What is Middle Class in 21st Century America?

[Captain Zissou]

In the last 6 months my salary has gone from about $20k (net) to a bit over $40k.  I don't think I have changed my lifestyle at all, I am now just putting more into investments saving, and paying for better health insurance, car insurance etc.  I think I was actually spending more at my lesser income level, just because I had so little after necessities that it wasn't worth saving to me.  You can still go out to dinner and go to the bars on $20k, just not Ruth's Chris and be prepared to drink PBR and Natty.

One could have survive on the lower salary, but that is no way to live.  I still don't think I would be able to support another person on my current wage.  I think 70-80k per household is the minimum needed to be able to own a home and plan for retirement.  People could do it for less, but some point of your life would be sacrificed (retirement or present day).  

I can get out of Publix for $65, every other week (Santitas $2 chips, tortillas, ground chuck, veggies, chicken breasts, milk, rice, toiletries, beer).

[Bostech]

I know there is a lot of good looking girls at Publix,but did you guys consider shopping at let's say Walmart or simillar?
Do it early in morning before ugly ones get in.

[finehoe]

$80K-$100K is good solid upper middle class income - big house, two new cars, kids to college with their own cars.

It really depends on where you live.  Jacksonville, probably so.  San Francisco, not so much.

There are too many people out there who are measuring their lives by what they don't have rather than what they do have.

Can't argue with that.

[JC]

I know there is a lot of good looking girls at Publix,but did you guys consider shopping at let's say Walmart or simillar?
Do it early in morning before ugly ones get in.

You realize that Wal Mart is a serious part of the problem dont you?

[Mattius92]

First off you need to know that 3 or even 4 classes isn't enough to really describe what you are. I have took Sociology and Economics and Social and Economic Classes by definition fall under 6 classes.

These are the TYPICAL requirements to be in certain classes.

Capitalist: $1,000,000+ Annual Salary, usually pared with postgrad degree from an Prestigious University, BA(S), MA(S), Ph.D.

Upper Middle: $125,000+, Grad and sometimes Postgrad degree, BA(S), MA(S).

Lower Middle: ~$60,000, High School GED, AA(S), BA(S)

Working: ~$35,000, High School GED

Working Poor: ~$17,000, Possibly having a High School GED

Underclass: Under $10,000, Little to some High School, typically homeless and/or ultra poor.

Education is majorly the largest decider when it comes to salary and social class. Though some people, like Sports Players and Singers dont fall into this scale, but generally this is what you have to have. And this is a University certified scale, I am not just coming up with this on my own. In Sociology I did have to come up with my own buy I am not posting that one.

And to touch up the point of other parts of the country having higher or lower median incomes. The highest county in the US by median household income is Loudoun County, Virginia, with a median income of $110,000.

[BridgeTroll]

Holy Smokes!  This is revolutionary!  The amount earned seems to be directly tied to the degree in which you are educated??  So... dropping out of high school or barely graduating H.S. virtually assures a person a lifetime of poverty? Whoa... for awhile there I thought it was unfair taxes, unfair labor practices, and "sending jobs overseas". 

[tufsu1]

Keep in mind the income ranges shown above are for a family of 4

[Dog Walker]

Holy Smokes!  This is revolutionary!  The amount earned seems to be directly tied to the degree in which you are educated??  So... dropping out of high school or barely graduating H.S. virtually assures a person a lifetime of poverty? Whoa... for awhile there I thought it was unfair taxes, unfair labor practices, and "sending jobs overseas". 

Pow!  That one goes right out of the ballpark!  LOL!

[Mattius92]

Holy Smokes!  This is revolutionary!  The amount earned seems to be directly tied to the degree in which you are educated??  So... dropping out of high school or barely graduating H.S. virtually assures a person a lifetime of poverty? Whoa... for awhile there I thought it was unfair taxes, unfair labor practices, and "sending jobs overseas". 

I would not say its directly tied, but on a national scale of families of four. The amount of education of people at certain levels does vary. However, you could vary well of only completed High School and become an millionare, but there would be 10-15 classes if we were to contain every kind of person. Heck, there should be the "jock" class then, and the "Lucky Bastard Class" haha

[BridgeTroll]

Sure there are exceptions... plenty of folks out there with MBA's that aren't making loads of cash and there are more than a few without degrees in higher education that are millionaires...(Bill Gates?)  But for most... there is a direct correlation.  Interestingly... females are replacing males as majorities at major universities...

[finehoe]

Capitalist: $1,000,000+ Annual Salary, usually pared with postgrad degree from an Prestigious University, BA(S), MA(S), Ph.D.

I suspect a great many of this group have a degree from a prestigious institution because they are filthy rich, not vice versa.

[Mattius92]

Actually the largest help anyone can have to getting on top is how powerful their/your families are/is. Its has been proven that your family plays the biggest role on what your success will be in life. However there is always exceptions.

Kinda explains why rich tend to always stay rich. Poor usually tend to stay poor.

Even if they break out of the poor cycle, usually when they get the money they have problems figuring out how to properly spend it, mainly because they have never had any body tell them how they are supposed to use the extra money. So in the end they usually go back to where they were.

Typically for every generation in your family, you will either stay in the class your were born in, or go up one level. The chances of someone shooting to the top are very rare.

[JagFan07]

Actually the largest help anyone can have to getting on top is how powerful their/your families are/is. Its has been proven that your family plays the biggest role on what your success will be in life. However there is always exceptions.

Kinda explains why rich tend to always stay rich. Poor usually tend to stay poor.

Even if they break out of the poor cycle, usually when they get the money they have problems figuring out how to properly spend it, mainly because they have never had any body tell them how they are supposed to use the extra money. So in the end they usually go back to where they were.

Typically for every generation in your family, you will either stay in the class your were born in, or go up one level. The chances of someone shooting to the top are very rare.

Actually that is a falsehood. 80% of millionaires are first generation.

And...

...According to IRS tax data, 85.8 percent of tax filers in the bottom fifth in 1979 had moved on to a higher quintile, and often to the top quintile, by 1988....

http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/index.php?news=4217

[Mattius92]

Well then I must be mistaken there, but having a wealthy family has to help you, there is no doubt about that.

[finehoe]

Actually that is a falsehood. 80% of millionaires are first generation.

Saying "80% of millionaires are first generation" does not disprove the statement that

...the largest help anyone can have to getting on top is how powerful their/your families are/is. Its has been proven that your family plays the biggest role on what your success will be in life.

"Different groups of Americans have different levels of opportunity. Those born to the middle class have about an equal chance of moving up or down the income ladder, according to the Economic Mobility Project. The children of the rich and poor, meanwhile, are less mobile than the middle class’s. More than 40% of those Americans born in the bottom quintile remain stuck there as adults."

http://www.economist.com/world/united-states/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15908469

Furthermore, a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) finds that social mobility between generations is dramatically lower in the U.S. than in many other developed countries.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/17/social-immobility-climbin_n_501788.html