Define 'middle class'. (health care, stats, cost, dollar)

[oz in SC]

I see a lot of posts about the declining middle class and how the middle class is being squeezed out and I am wondering how middle class is being defined?

It occurred to me one day while driving(my time of random thoughts) that perhaps the middle class isn't shrinking in as much as it has moved upwards.

So perhaps some sort of definition or standard is needed so as to know what we are all on the same page.

So,what defines middle class to you?

[mrsengle]

Whatever the IRS says.

[ontheroad]

How do you define middle class?

I ponder it from various perspectives: socioeconomics at the top of the ladder.

What is the mean income? What is the lowest? What is the highest or very high?

Do you fall into the middle?

Where do you live and is the mean adequate for the COL?

So many variables that I don't think there is a single answer.

[oz in SC]

If there is no single answer and so many variables why is it accepted that the middle class is being squeezed out or declining???

We seem to accept such phrases but does anyone ever look around and see if it is actually true?

[ontheroad]

Actually, studies exist on the subject. In fact, I posted one sometime ago. I'll see if I can dredge her up.

As for the why, well, we can turn it around and around, but folks ask lots of questions, some of which are concrete, others hypothetical, and some just plain curiosity.

And surely, definitions are fluid!

[oz in SC]

Yes definitions ARE fluid and changing in this sense.

If a young person was asked whether they are successful,having a decent paying job and a new car might define their success.

The same would not necessarily be true of a person in their thirties.

Making $10/hour when 18 was good,now not so much...

I think middle class is an income over $100,000 nowadays for most of the country....not that long ago that was an incredible income and people would be considered 'rich'.

[TXboomerang]

When the top rungs of the ladder are moved higher, the middle class goes up the rungs with it. So overall, the middle class had been doing quiet well for a while, going up the ladder in what is considered middle class. I think what we are seeing now is that they are being pushed back to what middle class was once like, but the rich at the higher rungs of the ladder are not coming back down with the middle class.

I don't think the middle class and poor are doing as bad as the media likes to portray, but things aren't looking as bright as they were before we sunk ourselves almost $10 trillion into debt and sunk the dollar.

[bily4]

This link does a nice job summarizing how middle class are getting "squeezed" more and more in relation to necessary costs such as health care/housing/education then even a few decades ago. It is not as noticeable when looking just at household incomes, but if you consider the percentage which covers fixed costs and the fact that now household income is for the most part 2 people working in families vice one it becomes more evident. Bad personal decisions relating to credit and debt also do play a part in this. The difference between struggling middle class and rich is increasing.

I have seen different estimates for middle class to be between $20-30k on the low end and $90k-100k on the high end. Which to me seems like a low range at both ends these days...I think nobody wants to identify themselves as "lower class", but in reality the range should probably be $40-50k to $120k, or something. $30k won't get you a "middle class" lifestyle today.


http://www.senate.gov/~finance/hearings/testimony/2007test/051007testew.pdf (broken link)

[ontheroad]

If you place the middle class at $100,000, we'll have a huge percentage of the national population in the under-class.

I believe nationally the average single income is < $30,000.

I can't recall the figure for eligibility for federal services; it is calculated on a convoluted percentage.

And where one lives really does play a role in income variables. I live on the cusp of two states. If I want petrol or other taxable items one of these states is more cost efficient. If I want high-end goods, the other state probably has more resources. However, my income is static.

This is the second time in recent years I've lived so close to a second state, and in both cases, the income and COL variables were enormous.

I also lived much of my life in NYC, and most folks in NYC on a single income don't earn $100,000, but many consider themselves middle class. They define themselves this way, not because of income, but because of their notion of social standing.

[oz in SC]

The $100,000 figure is for a couple or family,and I understand there is a range.

I agree that $30,000 is not middle class and that is kind of my point,some might consider such numbers as middle class and that would make it seem the middle class was being squeezed.

As to gov't stats,the problem I have is their definitions of poor are so out of whack that trusting their other figures would be a mistake.

Of course using money to define class is funny in the first place,I belonged to a forum where people were livig full and rewarding lives on less than $15,000/year but it required NOT being part of our consumer society.