Reasonable income for family of 4
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Anonymous
This is false. |
Anonymous
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OP: do not trust the answers to this post.
DCUM (this subforum especially) is infested with absurdly wealthy SAHMs who simply love to gloat, and rub your nose in their wealth. No surprise though: The DC Area Has the Highest Median Income in the US Again: https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/09/21/the-dc-area-has-the-highest-median-income-in-the-us-again/ |
Anonymous
| We make $275k with 2 kids and do fine. We live in a small house in the city that's zoned for a good public elementary school. We drive Toyotas, not Teslas, and stay at an Airbnb or Holiday Inn instead of the Ritz on vacation. We do need to budget, especially for big ticket items like summer camp, vacations, and a fund for home repairs, but we don't generally worry about money. |
Anonymous
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Also, the median household income in DC is closer to 90K. So people saying they can't get by on 200K are big old whiners.
Most people do it. What they mean is: I can't live in a house in Bethesda that looks like the one I grew up in on a household income of 150K. Which is true. But no one is entitled to live in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the country on an upper middle class salary. Living in a neighborhood "with good schools" (quotes because we all know that good schools can be found in many neighborhoods) is a luxury good. Not an entitlement. |
Anonymous
| I would be interested to know how old people’s kids are when replying to this question. Daycare is killing us. |
Anonymous
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My version of a middle class life is for a family of 4:
3br/2ba home (which is a TH in the suburbs Cars you drive into the ground 10+ years No cell phones for the kids until they can afford it in their own No cars for the kids unless they can buy in their own Funding college at 50% in a state school Two incomes each maxing out 401k, retirement no earlier than 59 1/2, but most likely 65 No international vacations whatsoever. The family MAYBE gets in an airplane every 2 years Dining out 2xs a month Packed work lunches daily if not expensed This could be accomplished on 200k/yr and should leave some room for cash savings. However people’s ideas of middle class are warped. |
Anonymous
I don't get this as we make much less and don't have to budget at all. We drive one $50K car, no issue. |
Anonymous
$200K isn't middle class and you can do that on much less. If you cannot afford to fund a state college on that income, and pay for cell phones something is very off. |
Anonymous
+1. You want high performing schools, you need to pay for it. Middle class = middle performing public schools, or pay for Catholic. |
Anonymous
But median isn't mean or average |
Anonymous
DP- it entirely depends on other other fixed costs. Some of us have medical expenses or kids with special needs. And there is nothing wrong with making kids pay for their own smartphones or having some skin in the game to go to college, whether it be applying for scholarships or working a part-time job. |
Anonymous
Wow. Mind blown. |
Anonymous
In this case median is probably most reliable because mean would have to really factor in the outliers on either side of the scale |
Anonymous
Do you have any awareness of how much a 3br TH costs with todays interest rates? Any idea what it takes to max out 401ks and daycare and 529 costs? This is my version of middle class. Yours is different and thats OK. |
Anonymous
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80K net is doable for us for all usual expenses with 2 minor children: house, mortgage, daily living, travel, etc.
However, we have a different pot for college tuition. |