Reply to How do I know if I am middle class?

Forum Index » Off-Topic

Reply to "How do I know if I am middle class?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]above 100k below 450k[/quote]

Absolutely not. In the DC area, I'd say middle class would be maybe 40-50K[/quote]

Really? I agree pretty much agree with PP except I'd drop the low end to $80k - $275k. Of course this entire thread is subjective and how one defines middle income. I make $200k have two DCs under 4 (relevant because child care costs directly affect disposable income available) and think we fall in upper middle income for the area. [/quote]

At 200k, you make more than over 95% of people in the United States. That is not even close to "middle class."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States[/quote]

Then I guess the question is - did OP mean middle class I the DC metro area or for the entire US. I don't dispute my income and $500k house would put me as high income in 95% of the US, but not here. Here I'm mid to upper middle class. And, in manhattan I'd be flirting with the lower end of middle class. It's all dependent on geography and how wide the net is cast. [/quote]

I don't think you realize what the average salary is even here in the D.C. region.  Even here, at $200k, you are not middle class, most definitely upper middle class, possibly beyond.  I don't think you realize how many families of 4 in this region there are who make less than $100k.

This is the problem I have with threads on this site about "middle class."   You are actually lucky that you live in your $500k house.  There are plenty of people who live in other areas of the DC metro region (or work here and commute far distances) because they don't make enough to live "close in" in a good area.

In fact, I think the median HHI in the DC metro region is around $80k or $90k (haven't checked recently).

So, even when just considering this area alone, you are well above middle class.  I think the problem is that people have a very skewed impression of what being upper class feels like.  What they don't realize is that they have a much higher quality of life, more choices (i.e. in some families, one parent can't afford to work if they have more than one kid, so they move further out to a cheaper location, and one parent takes on a crappy commute).

There are plenty of people who commute to D.C. from the Eastern Shore, from West Virginia, from Western Maryland, et cetera, because they can't afford to live here but need work and the work they do simply does not pay even close to what you make.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics