What do you define as "middle class"?

[Puppies04]

Argued with my friend tonight.

He makes $300K+ per year. He just got a $750,000 bonus this year and will get an additional $1 million in two more years when his options vest.

He claims he is middle class. While I can't say he is "upper" class, it just seems wrong to say that he's middle class. Would he best be described as upper middle class?

There is no such thing as middle class. It is an contruct dreamed up by the working class to give them something to strive towards.

You are either born upper class or marry into it, everyone else is working class.

Edit.

After reading the whole thread I now see that what you (Americans) call upper class is a lot different to what we (Brits) call upper class.

 

[Printer Bandit]

$100,000 /yr is the poverty line here @ ATOT.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Makes enough to live comfortably and to buy useless shit to keep up with Jones', but not rich enough to never work again.

Hmm, my neigbnor works at a local county middle school. She routines observes children on reduced on exempt status for meals because they cannot afford them yet they all walk around sporting expensive smartphones (her example, Apple iPhone 6's running a muck).

How does one not be able to afford a carton of milk but can afford a $800 cell phone? Yeah, I've got your lower-class right here <raised fist>.

 

[Engineer]

$100,000 /yr is the poverty line here @ ATOT.

Can you guys start one of those donation pages for this poor guy? I would like to get above the poverty line and join you guys soon! Please? :'''(

 

[Lonyo]

Sure it does. It's the equivalent of a $7k purchase for somebody making $100K a year. That's a lot of money!

On that basis, someone earning $10m spending $700k is in the same boat. Same %!
(aka: ur dum)

 

[rcpratt]

What a chump. Lower class trash.

 

[Blanky]

Not one of these threads again.

Now we will see a litany of anecdotal experiences about how such and such makes such and such and lives fine but such and such makes more and overspends, so lives badly, etc. etc. etc. Then the "x amount is a lot in idaho, but poverty in NYC", ad tedium

 

[brainhulk]

Not one of these threads again.

Now we will see a litany of anecdotal experiences about how such and such makes such and such and lives fine but such and such makes more and overspends, so lives badly, etc. etc. etc. Then the "x amount is a lot in idaho, but poverty in NYC", ad tedium

Not one of these guys again who always posts "not of these again" responses :hmm:

 

[Blanky]

Not you again

I will say OP's friend is an unabridged moron, though. He's not retarded, since he makes a lot of money, but he is an ignorant fool.

 

[kranky]

If we say the middle class is the middle 20% of incomes, that covers incomes of $40K-$60K a year.

Some widen the category to include the middle 60% of incomes which is pretty darn broad - $20K-$100K.

With the top 10% of incomes including everything $150K and above, and the guy referenced in the OP making a boatload more than that it seems illogical to think that's middle class.

In my experience, people self-identify as middle class when they have a few luxuries but not anywhere near what they want to have - regardless of their income. If someone makes $200K but can't buy a third luxury car for their newly-licensed teen driver, they feel they are middle class.

 

[brianmanahan]

madoka, tell him that if someone can afford to buy 100$k worth of random guns in a year then they are rich

i wish i would have had the sense to get training for a higher-paying job, something financial sector like prop trading. could've worked 10 years and been set for life.

 

[Mai72]

The new middle class is people who make $10 an hour.

 

[z1ggy]

Your friend is in the upper most tax bracket. He is not middle class. He may not be "rich" but I do believe he would be defined as the 1% in about 90% of states.

 

[Tweak155]

Seating towards the middle of the plane

You know, I find most of your posts useless and not worth my time at all.

But I'll be damned if I didn't chuckle at this

 

[Tweak155]

Also to answer, I think he falls in the middle class range, but probably upper middle class. He's reached the point of being able to buy ridiculously overpriced things for no good reason other than because he can, but he still has to work / earn income and cannot just go do whatever he wants. Hopefully he lives like he earns $100k so then he can retire early and not have $$ problems. It's probably good he has the perception he is in the middle class.

 

[cbrunny]

We combined for ~$130k plus a hefty bonus last year. We're basically on welfare.

Your friend is a fool, OP. If he is that out of sync with reality he clearly has no idea what it is like to actually be middle class. Median family income in Canada was $74,540 in 2012 (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/famil108a-eng.htm).

 

[TheSlamma]

Makes enough to live comfortably and to buy useless shit to keep up with Jones', but not rich enough to never work again.

In other words, someone who can get a lot of credit

 

[TheAdvocate]

These threads are so ridiculous. The only person who has any grasp on reality is Engineer.

Here's a hint - salary demographics, mark the fat point of the bell curve. There's your middle class. I'll give you a hint - it's below the $100k line. The average household income in the USA is still in the $50k range. NYC income is an outlier.


Median household income, 2009-2013 $53,046 ( source: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html )

The U.S. Census Bureau reported in September 2014 that:

- U.S. real (inflation adjusted) median household income was $51,939 in 2013 versus $51,759 in 2012, statistically unchanged. The 2011 level was $51,842 and the 2010 level was $52,646.

- In 2013, real median household income was 8.0% lower than the 2007 pre-recession level of $56,436.


More hard data (as opposed to ridiculous anecdotes & opinions): https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/statemedian/

Here are some particularly interesting hard data trend graphs:

 

[nageov3t]

to an extent, it all depends who you're comparing yourself to.

I make a good income, but I felt poor as fuck when I was dating a 1%'er Wall St guy who drove a luxury car, lived in a waterfront high-rise with a Manhattan view, and could afford things like going out to fine dining restaurants every night or taking spur of the moment vacations.

I think of middle class as someone who doesn't necessarily worry about money, but needs to plan/save before splurging on things like a vacation or expensive new toys.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Argued with my friend tonight.

He makes $300K+ per year. He just got a $750,000 bonus this year and will get an additional $1 million in two more years when his options vest.

He claims he is middle class. While I can't say he is "upper" class, it just seems wrong to say that he's middle class. Would he best be described as upper middle class?

Your friend is an idiot. He is NOT middle class by any stretch.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Somebody making $500k a year might be top 1%, but they're not a "1% percenter" in terms of controlling the economy.

That's because the notion of the "evil 1% percenter!!!11!!" is wrong. The type of people the media portrays as controlling the economy or Congress AREN'T 1%ers, no matter what the media says. The guys in the top 0.1% are the ones that do. There is a HUGE difference.

 

[Nograts]

I think it should be whatever feels right to you. Like, I feel middle class, so I identify with them, and there I am...

 

[moonbogg]

That's because the notion of the "evil 1% percenter!!!11!!" is wrong. The type of people the media portrays as controlling the economy or Congress AREN'T 1%ers, no matter what the media says. The guys in the top 0.1% are the ones that do. There is a HUGE difference.

More like 0.01%. I think its literally like a few families that actually OWN shit. I mean really own this country, like its fucking theirs. No one has the right to tax them or anything, because they own this shit, but for real. Not the fake kind of owning like most of us have. You think you own land, yet you must pay to keep it or you end up in prison for tax evasion. WTF? That's not owned.

 

[piasabird]

I was reading an article a while back and it tried to claim that if you did not make at least $4k a month you were poor. The problem with these terms for rich and poor and poverty level, is that most Humans alive in the USA had different concepts of rich and poor at different times in their life. People look back at the time when they lived in an apartment and cooked on a single hot plate and think of it as the good old days.

When I got married in South Korea I rented one room from a family. To heat the room you had to buy charcoal shaped into round cylinders with holes. We used the same device that heated the floor to cook food on. Our water supply was a pipe that came out of the cement floor in the little room next to our rented room. The bathroom was kind of like an outhouse with running water. You had to leave the main house to use it. Some people used a chamber pot kept in the corner of the room in case you had to go in the middle of the night. You had to heat water up if you wanted to take a bath by squatting and dumping water on yourself. Yes those were the good old days.

Thank goodness for the military camp with hot showers and a mess hall, and a place to wash clothes. On my first tour in Korea I lived in a Quonset Hut and the bathroom and shower was in a separate building.

 

[piasabird]

Stupid charts showing Median income levels tell you nothing. To get to that level they are counting all the billionaires and millionaires into the average. This means there are a lot of really poor people that don't really get counted. It is hard to say how many people are making $12k and $20K and $30k and $40k?