What's Middle Class? (Atlanta: middle-class, credit card, how much)

[equinox63]

What do consider middle-class regarding income, lifestyle, etc.? What are the parameters to be middle class in Atlanta? Not upper-middle, not lower-middle, but middle-middle.

[RainyRainyDay]

As Wikipedia points out, ad infinitum, the hard question is as stated by the thread title, "What's Middle Class?" American middle class - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The article includes this quote:

Everyone wants to believe they are middle class...But this eagerness...has led the definition to be stretched like a bungee cord — used to defend/attack/describe everything...The Drum Major Institute...places the range for middle class at individuals making between $25,000 and $100,000 a year. Ah yes, there's a group of people bound to run into each other while house-hunting.

It's my impression that there are plenty of people on this board who make in excess of $100K but consider themselves to be middle class. From some of the recent discussions by presidential election candidates, I get the impression there's a fair bit of thinking that household incomes up to $250K are "middle class". Yet on the other hand, our teacher, police and firefighter salaries start well under $50K. Are teachers not "middle class"? Maybe not, by the numbers.

[happycamper5]

middle class= when your too rich to get it for free and too poor to pay for it!!!

[Merin]

I think it really depends on your Geographic location. We live in the city and have a household income of about 200k, we are still very middle class, IMO.

[RainyRainyDay]

Happycamper and Merin make some good points! Joining Merin in frankness, I live OTP with a household income of about $100K and feel like we're sucking air trying to keep ourselves provided with very modest home, automobiles, clothing, kid activities, 401(K), etc. Forget vacations. And yet, according to median incomes nation-wide, or even metro-wide, we're "rich".

[BobKovacs]

We're between Rainy and Merin income-wise, have a nice house, two newer cars, the kids have tons of junk (thanks to my wife....lol), etc., and I still consider us "middle class". Maybe we're "upper middle class" compared to my parents who were more "true middle class" or "blue collar", but I definitely don't think we'd qualify as "upper class" by any stretch of the term.

[atlantagreg30127]

I remember reading an article not long ago where it said that in America there is no longer an actual "Middle income" classification - that there is now Lower-Middle and High-Middle categories, and that very few if any people fall into just a standard "middle" anymore. You're either on the lower end of it, or higher end of it. If you go by that, then I guess I fall into the lower-middle side of it. Dang.

I suppose if you want to be updated and somewhat politically correct too, you should know that the word "class" is being replaced by "income". In other words, you no longer say someone is low class or high class, but instead say low income or high income. The theory being that income (low or high) does not always indicate how much "class" someone has.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

I remember reading an article not long ago where it said that in America there is no longer an actual "Middle income" classification - that there is now Lower-Middle and High-Middle categories, and that very few if any people fall into just a standard "middle" anymore. You're either on the lower end of it, or higher end of it. If you go by that, then I guess I fall into the lower-middle side of it. Dang.

I suppose if you want to be updated and somewhat politically correct too, you should know that the word "class" is being replaced by "income". In other words, you no longer say someone is low class or high class, but instead say low income or high income. The theory being that income (low or high) does not always indicate how much "class" someone has.

Spot on, Greg...you echo the sentiments of Paul Fussell in his book Class: A Guide Through the American Status System. It is a fascinating read.

www.halfsigma.com/2006/06/class.html

[happycamper5]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

We're between Rainy and Merin income-wise, have a nice house, two newer cars, the kids have tons of junk (thanks to my wife....lol), etc., and I still consider us "middle class". Maybe we're "upper middle class" compared to my parents who were more "true middle class" or "blue collar", but I definitely don't think we'd qualify as "upper class" by any stretch of the term.

The old school ''true middle class'' blue collar folks did not have new cars every 3 years,credit cards,100 tv chanels,online,I-pods,cell phone,central a/c.I can go on forever !!Its not that the middle class is getting squeezed out, They are trying too sqeeze in!!!

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by happycamper5

The old school ''true middle class'' blue collar folks did not have new cars every 3 years,credit cards,100 tv chanels,online,I-pods,cell phone,central a/c.I can go on forever !!Its not that the middle class is getting squeezed out, They are trying too sqeeze in!!!

True, but alot of those items didn't exist back then- if they did, the "true middle class" would have had them, and would also have had the credit card debt that most "middle class" folks today have that allowed them to have the cell phones, ipods, etc.....