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Thank you - missed that. The $125,000 line still doesn't make sense though, even in flyover country (where I live). That's barely enough to buy a 2nd/3rd tier h

Thank you - missed that. The $125,000 line still doesn't make sense though, even in flyover country (where I live). That's barely enough to buy a 2nd/3rd tier home in a strong school district where I live. Would think that easy access to good schools and good housing are table-stakes for being "upper class".

dragonwriter 10y ago
Again, as I've posted several other places on this thread, the report is addressing a multiplier based region around the median income, a kind of "middle income tier". It has (despite the title) very little to do with "middle class", except insofar as the use of that term is drifting, at least in the US, to refer to various definitions of middle income tiers. > Would think that easy access to good schools and good housing are table-stakes for being "upper class". Honestly, I'd say that access to good public schools and good housing are typical for middle class; if you are upper class your housing is probably beyond "good" and you probably aren't concerned, except from a political or philanthropic perspective, with the quality of the public schools. But this article is (language aside) really about income tiers, not class
antisthenes 10y ago
So what exactly is a 1st tier home by your standards? I've never seen anyone use that classification before. Most people are just happy to have a roof over their heads.
kevinnk 10y ago
Suppose you spend 30% of your pre-tax income on housing. A 125k income then supports a $3125/month payment, which works out to about a ~660k house. That's enough to buy the median house in every state in the country and all but 4.8% of zip codes[1]. Let's be a little more conservative. Suppose you spend 25% of your post-tax income on housing. A 125k income supports a $1750/month payment, which works out to a ~370k house. That gets you a median house in all but 3 states: Hawaii (556k), DC (550k), and California (462k) - the next state up is Massachusetts (343k). You could also buy the median house in all but 16% of zip codes. I couldn't find that much data on school districts, but just as a point of comparison, 370k is enough to buy the median single family home in 7 of the top 10 school districts in Michigan[2]: 1. 350k, Bloomfield Hills Schools 2. 411k, Birmingham Public Schools 3. 219k, Okemos Public Schools 4. 429k, Novi Community Schools 5. 343k, Ann Arbor Public Schools 6. 276k, Saline Area Schools 7. 370k, Troy School District 8. 285k, Grosse Pointe Public Schools 9. 335k, East Grand Rapids Public Schools 10. 429k, Northville Public Schools If you bumped up your payments to about $2023/month (~29% of post tax income in Michigan) you would be able to afford a median single family home in every top school district (~430k). Also, anecdotally, I grew up in Michigan and a 400k home was solidly upper-middle class even in nice areas like Ann Arbor and Bloomfield Hills. In Ann Arbor, a 600k home would be either a mansion or a family home in an extremely desirable area. [1] http://www.zillow.com/research/data/ http://www.zillow.com/research/data/ [2] https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-school-districts/best-overall/s/michigan/ https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-school-districts/best-...

dragonwriter 10y ago

Again, as I've posted several other places on this thread, the report is addressing a multiplier based region around the median income, a kind of "middle income tier". It has (despite the title) very little to do with "middle class", except insofar as the use of that term is drifting, at least in the US, to refer to various definitions of middle income tiers. > Would think that easy access to good schools and good housing are table-stakes for being "upper class". Honestly, I'd say that access to good public schools and good housing are typical for middle class; if you are upper class your housing is probably beyond "good" and you probably aren't concerned, except from a political or philanthropic perspective, with the quality of the public schools. But this article is (language aside) really about income tiers, not class

antisthenes 10y ago

So what exactly is a 1st tier home by your standards? I've never seen anyone use that classification before. Most people are just happy to have a roof over their heads.

kevinnk 10y ago

Suppose you spend 30% of your pre-tax income on housing. A 125k income then supports a $3125/month payment, which works out to about a ~660k house. That's enough to buy the median house in every state in the country and all but 4.8% of zip codes[1]. Let's be a little more conservative. Suppose you spend 25% of your post-tax income on housing. A 125k income supports a $1750/month payment, which works out to a ~370k house. That gets you a median house in all but 3 states: Hawaii (556k), DC (550k), and California (462k) - the next state up is Massachusetts (343k). You could also buy the median house in all but 16% of zip codes. I couldn't find that much data on school districts, but just as a point of comparison, 370k is enough to buy the median single family home in 7 of the top 10 school districts in Michigan[2]: 1. 350k, Bloomfield Hills Schools 2. 411k, Birmingham Public Schools 3. 219k, Okemos Public Schools 4. 429k, Novi Community Schools 5. 343k, Ann Arbor Public Schools 6. 276k, Saline Area Schools 7. 370k, Troy School District 8. 285k, Grosse Pointe Public Schools 9. 335k, East Grand Rapids Public Schools 10. 429k, Northville Public Schools If you bumped up your payments to about $2023/month (~29% of post tax income in Michigan) you would be able to afford a median single family home in every top school district (~430k). Also, anecdotally, I grew up in Michigan and a 400k home was solidly upper-middle class even in nice areas like Ann Arbor and Bloomfield Hills. In Ann Arbor, a 600k home would be either a mansion or a family home in an extremely desirable area. [1] http://www.zillow.com/research/data/ http://www.zillow.com/research/data/ [2] https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-school-districts/best-overall/s/michigan/ https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-school-districts/best-...