Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The middle-wage jobs in the article are pretty low-wage: $30-60K. Try living on $31K in a city of any size. Now try sharing it with a wife or kids. Middle-wage jobs are more like $50-100K.
there really is no actual definition of middle class .
as the ny times said in their study :
There is no single, formal definition of class status in this country.Statisticians and demographers all use slightly different methods to divvy up the great American whole into quin tiles and median ranges.
Complicating things, most people like to think of themselves as middle class. It feels good, after all, and more egalitarian than proclaiming yourself to be rich or poor. A $70,000 annual income is middle class for a family of four, according to the median response in a recent Pew Research Center survey, and yet people at a wide range of income levels, including those making less than $30,000 and more than $100,000 a year, said they, too, belonged to the middle.
By one measure, in cities like Houston or Phoenix — places considered by statisticians to be more typical of average United States incomes than New York — a solidly middle-class life can be had for wages that fall between $33,000 and $100,000 a year.
By the same formula — measuring by who sits in the middle of the income spectrum — Manhattan’s middle class exists somewhere between $45,000 and $134,000.
But if you are defining middle class by lifestyle, to accommodate the cost of living in Manhattan, that salary would have to fall between $80,000 and $235,000. This means someone making $70,000 a year in other parts of the country would need to make $166,000 in Manhattan to enjoy the same purchasing power.
Using the rule of thumb that buyers should expect to spend two and a half times their annual salary on a home purchase, the properties in Manhattan that could be said to be middle class would run between $200,000 and $588,000.
On the low end, the pickings are slim. The least expensive properties are mostly uptown, in neighborhoods like Yorkville, Washington Heights and Inwood. The most pleasing options in this range, however, are one-bedroom apartments not designed for children or families.
It is not surprising, then, that a family of four with an annual income of $68,700 or less qualifies to apply for the New York City Housing Authority’s public housing.
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-20-2016 at 05:09 AM..
There is no single, formal (monetary) definition of class status in this country.
Statisticians and demographers all use slightly different methods to divvy up
the great American whole into quin tiles and median ranges.
Not to open this up to yet another "what is middle class" thread
(do a search find one of 1000) ... but,
The common theme of all the different anecdotes used seems to
be centered around "paying your own way".
Having enough EARNED income to cover your needs and wants
without resorting to any other sources for assistance...
and without working more than ONE job to get it.
Which does get us back to a (monetary) context but one fraught with
other complications based on LOCAL economics faced in city X vs city Y.
The article talked about middle-wage jobs, not middle class. Class is a complex construct, consisting of values, aspirations, lifetime income prospects, who one's friends and influences are, etc. A young assistant professor at Harvard making $80,000 is upper middle class but (for Boston) just barely middle income; his or her prospects are fantastic, and everybody he or she knows will be highly accomplished. And so on...
The problems with defining "middle class" aside....
Locally I've noticed things improving considerably in the last 1.5 years. My town was a ground zero for the housing crisis/recession. It hit here, HARD - a housing market in full bubble mode, employment driven by real estate, construction and tourism... all of that went to crap. Forclosures were epidemic and we actually lost about 8% of our population. It looks like we've gained that back and more...maybe significantly more. Things started to get better about 2013 and much better about halfway through 2014.
Jobs are easier to get. MUCH easier. At my work I've seen a drastic decrease in applications per opening. It was in the 3 figures for 1 job 4 years ago. For a 48k a year job I once saw 205 applications in 2012. From what I heard it was worse around 2010... around 300. Now we're lucky if we get 40 apps for a similar position, usually about 25. Technical jobs requiring particular skills & experience we're actually lucky if we get more than 7-8. Makes my job easier when I have to deal with hiring.... but we've actually had failed searches lately due to lack of qualified applicants. Have to say I couldn't believe it.
It's evident from the service employers crying that they can't hold on to people. Clear worker shortages in the restaurants & retailers. Of course they don't want to pay higher wages to encourage retention....
Housing costs are a problem. I recently looked up housing starts and we are at historically low levels of new construction nationally, even now. In areas like mine there was basically NO new housing constructed from 2009-12. It's no wonder that rents and housing costs have increased significantly. We've still had population increase but no new housing.
I didn't know it was this low. No wonder there's a rent increase crisis. If the Donald Trumps of the world would get out of the glamour real estate business and back into the working class real estate unit business his father was... maybe we could deal with this. I see this locally. Developers love Love LOVE to build luxury units that only the low-wealthy and above can afford. Units for the working & middle classes would be between 150-350k for the incomes in this area. But all you see are signs saying "new luxury homes.... starting at $399k!"
Last edited by redguard57; 08-22-2016 at 05:31 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
