Reply to Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?

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Reply to "Can we stop referring to households making $200 or 300K a year as "middle class"?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I'm guessing in a home where kids are sharing bedrooms and carpet is 15 years old, the parents aren't making an income that involves advanced degrees.  So they probably don't have student loans.  And maybe mom doesn't work or took a few years off, so they weren't dropping 2-3k/month sending two kids to daycare.  In a way, their income may go further than another more affluent dual income family.

I think the problem in the DC area is that there are so many well educated people who didn't work as hard as they did to live the lifestyle you described.  And I don't think it's fair to claim these people are out of touch for wanting a decently nice house with good schools within 30 min.[/quote]

Just because you have extra debt, whether it's a higher mortgage, student loans or credit card debt, doesn't change your class.  You EARN more than 97% of the region and that makes you affluent.  Yes, you have less disposable income, but that's because you've spent more on your education or home.  No one is saying they are out of touch for wanting any of the luxuries including a decent house with good schools within 30 minutes.  The true middle class  (those making $75-150K) have those same desires, often have those same debts and have to make more compromises that those making over $200K.

I keep saying that people are deceived by the fact that several hundred thousand households in this area make over $200K and that makes them think that this makes it middle class.  There are over a million households that make signficantly less than $200K.  Yes there are many more families making over $200K than there used to be, but that's because the region's population is significantly higher than it used to be.  Many of those million households also have student loans (there are many people who went to state schools at in-state rates that still have student loans to pay).  Additionally, people are measuring the middle class based on some outdated models from when we were growing up.  The truth is that the lower classes from middle class down have less buying power than their peers and parents did from earlier generations.  The middle class is getting poorer, not wealthier.  Despite the whining from the upper classes, the policies of the last 30+ years have redistributed the wealth so that the upper classes have much more of the nation's wealth than they used to.

[quote]And FWIW, I keep seeing Silver Spring thrown out as a great middle class area for Maryland.  There really isn't an equivalent for those of us in NoVa.  The typically middle class suburb people name is Burke, which is outside the beltway.  Those of us with a bit more money can afford Fairfax, Oakton, or Vienna.  Everything closer-in Virginia is getting out of reach.  Even S. Arlington is starting to get really expensive. [/quote]

Just doing a quick check on redfin, the areas of Alexandria immediately outside the beltway from Huntingdon to Franconia have many SFH and TH for under $450K with 2+ bedrooms.  There's even a small handful inside the beltway.  That's a very affordable amount for a middle class family to live that is relatively close in, has easy metro access to downtown for a decent commute and easy access to amenities.[/quote]

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