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

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]HHI is 230k. After 2 daycare expenses, a mortgage underwater, student loans- I'm definitely middle class in this area.  [/quote]

No, you're not.  [b]Middle Class is based on HHI [/b]-- not on the choices you made/make (i.e. to have 2 kids, to buy the house you bought, to take on the debt you took on).

In fact, many middle class families in the area don't even own a house because they couldn't afford to do so.

You make more than double the median salary for the region.  You don't think people making $80k have expenses (childcare, mortgage, student loans)?[/quote]

Wrong.  Class is based on much more than income.  It is also based on your level of education, your parents' level of education, your life style choices, your manners and your taste.  Income is only part of socio-economic class.[/quote]

No, when we're talking about middle class in terms of economics and we're talking about the U.S., we're talking HHI.  It doesn't matter what education, lifestyle choices or manners are.  We're talking cold hard numbers.

A guy with a high school diploma who likes NASCAR but makes some savvy business decisions, combined with luck, and manages to own a successful company, pulling in a high salary may seem "low class" to you but would still be upper class if his salary fit the definition.

We're not talking about the British, turn of the century concept of class and lineage.[/quote]

Not true. Class is determined by more than just income. Education, job, etc all goes into class. Unlike GB, you can actually move among the classes here. [/quote]

Yes, true.  If we're discussing class from an ECONOMICS perspective, it is determined by HHI.  Period.  Economists don't factor in what jobs people have, especially given that in one household, one spouse could have a blue collar job while the other had a white collar job.  Economists look at HHI.  Period.

It just so happens that HHI is usually correlated with education (i.e. higher HHI usually means a higher level of education).  But it's the HHI that really is the determining factor in whether an economist calls you middle class.

Neither of my parents have a college degree, but because they worked hard, they fit pretty firmly into upper middle class.

In GB, people can move around among the classes from an economists' perspective.  It's from a social perspective that it's harder to "fit in."  But that's a different type of class discussion altogether.

But when we are talking about whether someone in the U.S. is middle class, upper class, et cetera, we're talking about HHI and wealth (i.e. they may not have a high income, but have inherited money, et cetera).  We are essentially talking about money.[/quote]

Class is not an economic measurement. It is a social one. [/quote]

It is socio-economic.  But in the U.S., it is most definitely defined by income and wealth.  [/quote]

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