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$150k is only middle class in NYC in the weakest possible sense of the phrase “middle class”. Even if we restrict to manhattan, $150k puts you in the top ~20%
by stephencanon 13y ago
$150k is only middle class in NYC in the weakest possible sense of the phrase “middle class”. Even if we restrict to manhattan, $150k puts you in the top ~20% of household income (which often includes two wage-earners). Median income in Manhattan is right around $70k. I know that nearly everyone in America (except maybe for Bill Gates) believes that they are middle class, but at some stage one needs to accept that if you make whole-number multiples above the median wage, you are at the very least “upper middle class” or “well off”. To pretend otherwise is frankly a bit insulting to the actual middle class.
Yes, there are people making vastly more than $150k, but that doesn’t change the fact that it puts one solidly in the upper quartile.
- zmitri 13y agoYep. For less than that amount I had a floor of a brownstone in Brooklyn, 20-30 minute commute via subway, paid off 10 year student loans in < 1 year, took my entire family on a vacation, and went out to dinner at a variety of nice restaurants on a fairly regular interval. I also saved up 30K in liquid assets (Although that includes some cash from 1-2 years before). It's that's "only" middle class, the world is in serious trouble.
- humanrebar 13y agoSounds middle class to me. Having a few months expenses in the bank and a 30 minute commute. Checks out modulo crime rate and quality of local public schools, both of which vary a lot in Brooklyn.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- zmitri 13y agoHow long have you lived in New York?
- lotsofpulp 13y agoWhat does the term of a loan have to do with anything? It's a meaningless metric in your context.
- zmitri 13y agoThat's just what we call the loan where I'm from. It's the loan I took out to pay for my 4 year undergraduate university education in it's entirety. Is that better?
- humanrebar 13y agoFair enough, but that's beside the point. I was referring to what that salary gets you in terms of standard of living and so on. Cost of living in all of New York, Manhattan especially, is high. $70k doesn't get you very far in Manhattan, especially if you don't have multiple roommates (which you wouldn't if you had a family). Contrast that to what a family can do with $70k in Cleveland, San Antonio, or Raleigh. It looks closer to what $150k looks like in Manhattan, which is my point.