3 ms·

super pedantic but the coloquial usage of "working class" is not "middle class", but lower-earning wage brackets. Even more OT but there's a pretty interestin

by rtpg 11y ago

super pedantic but the coloquial usage of "working class" is not "middle class", but lower-earning wage brackets. Even more OT but there's a pretty interesting study about how something like 80% of Americans think they're middle class when they're much poorer (or richer, sometimes) than the median household income. Which gets you to the slightly absurd WSJ inforgraphic that showed a "Middle Class family" with $150k of income...

kbenson 11y ago
There's a lot of conceptual baggage that comes with the term "middle class", which makes it non-trivial for people to agree on. For example, is home-ownership important to being considered middle class? If so, how does any median income number make sense when there are areas where entry-level houses cost 3-4 times what they do in other areas? Cost of living is different in different areas. It's very easy to feel middle class with $150k a year in income when you work it out and find that after all expenses (mortgage, non-obscene car payments, utilities, insurance, food) you have a few hundred dollars each month to do with as you like, and you can live semi-comfortably, or you can save, but doing both doesn't seem to be in the cards. The common refrain of "move somewhere cheaper" doesn't look all that appetizing when it also means a massive pay-cut, and moving away from all friends and family. So, can a person that makes $150k actually be middle class? I think so. There's so much more than just salary that goes into it.
tracker1 11y ago
Depends on where you live... In SF or parts of NYC, it'd be pretty hard to consider oneself Middle Class at much less than that for a family income. Some places the median cost of a house is close to a million, other places it's closer to $100k... That caries across the board, even chips at a convenience store price ranges quite a bit within the U.S. ... which, frankly has surprised me. It's all relative. Fortunately, I'm in a location where the relative pay for what I do, to cost of living is pretty decent.

by rtpg 11y ago

kbenson 11y ago

There's a lot of conceptual baggage that comes with the term "middle class", which makes it non-trivial for people to agree on. For example, is home-ownership important to being considered middle class? If so, how does any median income number make sense when there are areas where entry-level houses cost 3-4 times what they do in other areas? Cost of living is different in different areas. It's very easy to feel middle class with $150k a year in income when you work it out and find that after all expenses (mortgage, non-obscene car payments, utilities, insurance, food) you have a few hundred dollars each month to do with as you like, and you can live semi-comfortably, or you can save, but doing both doesn't seem to be in the cards. The common refrain of "move somewhere cheaper" doesn't look all that appetizing when it also means a massive pay-cut, and moving away from all friends and family. So, can a person that makes $150k actually be middle class? I think so. There's so much more than just salary that goes into it.

tracker1 11y ago

Depends on where you live... In SF or parts of NYC, it'd be pretty hard to consider oneself Middle Class at much less than that for a family income. Some places the median cost of a house is close to a million, other places it's closer to $100k... That caries across the board, even chips at a convenience store price ranges quite a bit within the U.S. ... which, frankly has surprised me. It's all relative. Fortunately, I'm in a location where the relative pay for what I do, to cost of living is pretty decent.