Reply to A massive income required to live the idealized american dream around here?

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[quote=Anonymous]OP is talking about the "idealized" American dream. So not just a SFH but the kind of house that you see on HGTV or in a TV show about a "middle class" family. Not just a couple road trip vacations a year but flights to Florida or the Caribbean or a destination city or Europe. Not just one car but two so no one ever has to worry about sharing a car and they won't be compact, budget vehicles but (at a minimum) small or midsize SUVs. And yes, that kind of lifestyle, in the DC area, requires upper 6 figures into 7 figures.

Unless you have family help which a lot of people do.

You can have all of that in a place like St. Louis or Minneapolis or perhaps even Chicago on a lot less, but still waaaaaaay more than people expect when they are first starting out. Housing in particular is so much more expensive than it used to be and that's the separator for people. They are either reaching to get the house they want (or almost the house they want) and living house poor, or they accept that a middle class income is only going to be able to afford you townhouse or small, un-updated SFH in not the best school district.

Keep in mind actual middle class incomes are like 70-150k. What this buys you in the DC area is *maybe* a condo or small SFH in a not-great neighborhood (if you are on the upper end of that), bad schools. If you max out your retirement, you will not have much if any left over for college savings. In fact even childcare costs are going to make these extremely tight. Ideally you don't have to have a car if you live near public transit but realistically if you have kids, you need a car -- in this area doctor's visits, school, and pretty much any extra-curricular is going to be tough without at least one vehicle. But it's going to be a budget vehicle, used, basic trim level. And so on.

We have this conversation on this forum all the time and it's very tired. Actual middle class people are struggling. What I just described is why inflation has been absolutely brutal for middle class Americans. If you are already struggling to afford housing and transportation, suddenly doubling your grocery bill or watching costs skyrocket for basic home repairs is going to make you feel underwater really fast. Yes, incomes have risen in the last few years, but not fast enough. Plus when you are middle class, you expect an increase in income to help you afford a little more -- start putting away a bit more for college or upgrade to a more reliable vehicle. When instead it just helps you barely keep up with the cost of living, it's very depressing.

I am super tired of people making upwards of 300k, much less upwards of a million, whine and complain on these forums about how hard it is for them to afford the "idealized" lifestyle they want. I do not care if your house has walk in closets or if the custom kitchen remodel of your dreams is now just out of reach. Truly, no one does.[/quote]

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