Reply to What is Middle Class....Really?

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Reply to "What is Middle Class....Really?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think assuming class = income = standard of living is really problematic, and I don't trust a lot of numbers about mean/median incomes because there are too many variables. For example, my brother and 2 of my cousins, all in their 30s, each earn less than 20k a year. My brother just doesn't work steadily, and is subsidized by parents/girlfriend, but lives a comfortable middle class lifestyle. One cousin is a perpetual Phd student, and travels internationally all the time, while another one gets grants for social justice projects, and is subsidized by parents. She has student loans which she just does not pay. If you tried to figure out the average income in our family, these folks would make it look very low. But none of them are actually working full time, or trying to maximize income, and all are receiving some type of subsidy for housing. Surveys of average incomes in cities are going to be skewed by similar stories - folks who inherited a house and thus easily live on 30k a year, people subsidized by a university or church, or people who live with someone receiving a pension or disability. Just going by people I know there are lots of people whose income doesn't match their true expenditures or lifestyle. I would love to see[b] data on HHI in D.C. area that only looked at people who paid all expenses out of income earned from their jobs.[/b] I think that would give you a more accurate picture of what income is middle class in this area.[/quote]
OP here. That would be interesting data, but I doubt it exists. It would remove some of these outliers you mention. [/quote]

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