Middle class? (Chicago, Naperville, Kane: middle-class, rent, condos)

[DGDurmie]

In the Chicago area, what do most people consider to be an average middle class household income? What household income puts you into the high middle class/upper class range?

[M TYPE X]

If you have to ask, you might want to practice cringing before you hear the answer.

[Drover]

If by "upper class" you mean "country-club-eligible" I'd say minimum income would be at least $250K/yr. To live a comfortable middle-class lifestyle, esp. if you have a couple of kids, I'd say you'd have to start at about $80K a year, unless you bought your house in the 80s, in which case you can probably get by pretty comfortably on $50-60K a year.

[Manigault]

We more often say "middle income" than middle class. After all, we live in a classless society. I think the detailed data on the city of Chicago will show you the median income for the area.

To a certain extent it depends on your lifestyle. If you have few expenses, you can enjoy a middle-income way of living at $50K or so. That does not leave a lot of room to save for future college expenses of kids, however.

[oakparkdude]

As some of the others have implied, the biggest variable to take into account is housing prices. If you're renting, you can probably live a "middle class" lifestyle with a lot less than if you just bought a 500K house with 0 down. To a lesser extent public versus private schools need to be factored in. Middle class out in Naperville implies public schools versus in the city where you'd probably want private schools at 5-10K per child per year.

[Chinolala]

As a life long Chicago who is middle class, as are all of my friends, I'd say $100k is enough to live here and raise a small family (1-2 kids). My friends who live "better" meaning nicer homes, vacations, etc. tend to make about $150k. One's lifestyle depends greatly on where one lives. For instance, if you want to live in the city, you'll need to make more money or be open to living in a smaller house. If you want to live in a tony area, such as the North Shore, you'll need lots of money. If you're willing to live in Kane or Will counties, you can still buy large homes for way less, but depending on where you work, you may have a hellish commute to work and spend a lot of windshield time daily, thus lowering your standard of living for the fact that you have long days. I have single friends who own condos or rent in the city that get by on between $35k-$50k. They live check to check and never travel much but live in nice areas.

[M TYPE X]

$100K is middle class if you are talking about a working couple.

[homewifeev]

A comfortable income in Chicago is probably around $100,000 to $150,000. A comfortable North Shore income would be around $300,000.