Defining The Middle Class

What a great question! I would consider myself middle class with a househould income of 90k. However, I do feel the crunch and know my wife must start working AND I will need a raise to stay ahead.

My wife and I are accepting of our areas of spending and realize that we can cut in a few areas, but it is far from our own habits. We have a phone, internet, and basic cable....$180! A gallon of milk is near $4. A pair of sneakers for my 4-yr old can run an easy $50 and that is not for Nikes. My children do not have X-box, cell phones, and other luxuries. Our fridge and pantry are filled with no-frills/non-brand name items. I have been waiting for 2 years to put a patio inthe backyard. Bills...gas, electric, utilities, credit card interest rates are rediculous! (20-30%)

I think Biden should look heavily at credit card companies and their interest rates, utilities companies, and medical insurance. The everyday expenses of peoples' life. The middle class label should also be considerate of city...as you mentioned, NYC vs. Bismark will have a much different bracket.

Happy New Year!

I agree with Robert, a great question. I live in the Southeast. We are a two income family of five. Yearly income about 80,000 before taxes. Live in a small home, old cars. No debt except for our home, with a daughter wanting to go to college next year and a son heading that way in two. We make to much money to quilify for grant money but don't make enough to help her very much with tuition. Even though both my husband and I have worked sinced we were 15, have paid taxes, are college graduates, and our children are honor students. So much of my money goes out for other citizens who may not have parents who are legal citizens,or who have not worked, have little desire to do so but are allowed monies for their childern who may seek higher education. I would like to see a balance in finanical help for all young people willing to work hard in school to better themselves and hopfully become better citizens of this great country. Will Binden consider the two combined incomes necessary for many families in this country as middle class families?

Cost of living absolutely needs to be a part of this discussion. Earning $166,000 per year in New York City doesn't qualify you buy any type of real estate in New York. The cost of food, clothing and everything else is through the roof and two working parents paying $3,000 per month rent (for a one bed room apartment) plus $2,300 per month for two kids in daycare (real costs here) means living like a rat. These same people get gauged by heavy local and state taxes and the alternative minimum tax which is not fairly applied from state to state. While $166,000 seems like a lot of money, it is actually very little when considering the true costs of living.

One of the most powerful things that the new administration can do to reduce the effects of this mess is to take dramatic steps to assure the folks out here that they know what they're doing and are taking bold steps to rebuild our financial and credit systems so that people feel less anxious about their future tomorrow so that they will go out and spend, spend, spend (unless they are in an upside down mortgage with 6 months' income needed to pay off the credit card bills.
Michael
Helping kids learn to read

The middle class lives on wages, while the upper class lives on investments. Class is about assets, not annual income.

Sorry, the definition that rich live on investments (their money), middle class live on wages (their labor), and the poor lived on others (charity) is so 19th Century. In the 21st, the Federal government has poverty guidelines that might well serve best who's in the lower and middle classes - and yes, it's scaled by size of household and location. More than double poverty guideline is probably the start of the middle class, but where's the upper limit? Five times? Ten? Based on my education and experience, the current economic climate and what I'm hearing on the street (Main and Wall), and the fact that most people can't do math nor figure out anything from a chart, I'm thinking that less then $50k a year are poor, and over $250K a year are making enough - making the middle class the $50k to $250k bracket, not adjusting for location or household size.Here in Middletown, NY, a family of 4 living on $50k a year would be struggling, but in NYC, a single person couldn't live on that, they'd have to share an apartment and have no unecessary expenses (eating out, movies, etc.) at all. Techically, we're only talking about financial class, not social class, which is defined far differently. Pretty much anyone with a PhD would have to be upper class in terms of education - but likely lower class when it comes to money. And most of the rich guys on Wall Street, the ones who've run off while the rest of us struggle along in the economy that they pretty much destroyed (so they caught one guy, big deal), have no class at all as far as I'm concerned, for all their millions.

If one uses the word 'middle' to describe something then that infers there is a "top" and a "bottom" also. The middle class should be, if the scale is considered in equal proportions, those whose net wealth is in the middle third of the spectrum. Salary or wages alone cannot be the one criteria for measurement. Assets and liabilities must also be considered. There are many folk in all parts of the class structure who are, in fact, insolvent, even those with high incomes. Thus, one cannot claim to be in the middle class just because one earns, or is paid from investments, say $100K p.a.

With a PhD and very poor health, I guess I have no class. Who can live in place where (independent living) food, housekeeping and security are provided on a pension of of $2500 per month. Remember I have to pay for insurance, prescriptions, phone and Internet. People on Medicaid can live here with little monetary out put. Stupid me. I've worked my guts out, worked in special education on many levels for 20 years and am eligible for nothing, not even my deceased husband's social security. I raised 7 children. Believe me being Who's Who in many publications are of little use to me. What good does it do me to be invited through the "Foreign Affairs Counsel" to serve as an ambassador to other nations when I am without funds.

I suppose it was stupid of me to believe I would be rewarded for my efforts by anything other than just another certificate to hang on the wall or file. I wonder how more others are out there who took the high road, only to be punished by society. Yes, I have been through the whole gauntlet: foreclosure, Post Traumtic Stress, bankrupcy, you name it.

I was born during the depression to a poor family. And worked my way up--is that the right word?
I gave my all to society,family, church, etc.
For what?

WHY DOES OUR SOCIETY WORSHIP MATERIAL THINGS? We really should have nothing but contempt for such frivolous people who think that fancy clothes. classy cars, and multimillion dollar mansons are the measure of a person. GET REAL.

And forget that nonsense about SS going broke. If PRESIDENTS would stop raiding it for their wars and put back that which has been stolen, there would be no problems with SS. Am I right? There must be more people around besides me that still remember.

Well, it's just my husband and myself no kids. We live in Chicago with a combined income of $99,000 and we are having a hard time mostly because of the housing crisis (we own multiple rental properties). That said, I feel very much middle income if not poor sometimes because everything is so expensive. Gas is expensive, food, not to mention interest rates on credit cards etc. Maybe when things were reasonably priced a $100,000 income would be big stuff but not in these days. I'm 27, my husband is 26 and we both come from families whose incomes were between $30,000 and $50,000 with children. I feel like we are living about where our families did yet we earn so much more.

The Middle Class is defined as, a person who makes to much to get it free and not enough to afford it.!