Middle class shrinks in all fifty states 2000-2013.

[bigman123]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

This isn't really a surprise considering the battering people took from 2008 forward and how well the economy was doing in 2000.

The Shrinking Middle Class, Mapped State by State

Actually, I would argue that the decline has been happening since the 60's. The mid 90's gave way to declines in union membership in the last of the states, where union membership historically was strong. Therefore, by 2000 ALL states all states saw a decline.

Workers wages and the size of the middle class has all went down as union membership has declined. All of which will continue. As long as workers have no seat at the table, the needs of workers will continue to be ignored.

[mizzourah2006]

Originally Posted by usayit

Maybe I'm a bit dense.. but wouldn't this mean the situation is worse that the map indicates?

It's irrelevant. Median is only impacted by which side of the halfway point you are on. Mean would be greatly impacted by outliers, but median is not impacted at all because you line up each # left to right in ascending order and the middle most # becomes your median.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by LIGuy1202

Useless. It's based on median income by state. Median income can't be the basis for defining the middle class because the IRS and US Census Bureau caps max. income at $500,000/yr. when figuring the median. A person making $10,000,000/yr. only has the first $500,000 count; the remaining $9.500MM is disregarded.

There are going to be relatively few people about $500k. The extra $9.5 mil doesn't impact others.

[DistrictSonic]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

There are going to be relatively few people about $500k. The extra $9.5 mil doesn't impact others.

I don't think this person understands the differences between median and average when looking at data.

I can't believe people can be this stupid.