• otp@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    2 months ago

    I like to use quintiles to define the classes.

    “Middle of what?” is a good question to ask. If you’re in the top 2%, or even 10%, you’re not middle class. More money than 90% of everyone else is not the middle class.

    Flipping it around, if 0% means 100% of the country is richer than you, and 99% means 99% of the country is poorer than you…

    • 0~20% is lower class.
    • 20~40% is lower-middle class.
    • 40~60% is middle class
    • 60~80% is upper-middle class.
    • 80~100% is upper class.

    Now, I couldn’t find quick figures for wealth. But for income, middle class household income topped out at $94,000 in 2022. So a household making more than $100,000 is probably not middle class.

    “But my household makes over $100,000/yr and we don’t live a middle class life style!”… that’s probably because you’ve been sold the idea that an upper[-middle] class lifestyle is actually “middle class”. It’s not. The lifestyle you’d have at about $80,000 household income is a middle class lifestyle.

    “Well, I might make over $100,000/yr household income, but I’m definitely not middle class because i make less than that after tax!”…nope, these calculations are usually before tax. You aren’t middle class.

    “This doesn’t apply to me. I have 3 kids and a dependent spouse, so my $100,000+ doesn’t go as far as a single person’s would!”…sorry, still not middle-class.

    • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 months ago

      This is not my understanding of the class system. It’s not divided evenly mathematically. Many years ago, this was most likely the case, but I would argue that unless you’re at least in the top third percentage for income, you probably aren’t living a “middle class” life. Features of what we used to call middle class, and I argue still should, are things like owning a home, going on vacations, and having a retirement account.

      Reducing the idea of middle class to statistics normalizes things like living paycheck to paycheck because that’s what median income earners in this country do. That will never be middle class to me. That’s working class at best and more like working poor. I would love for everyone to have what I think of as a middle class life, but it’s sadly out of reach for most of us.

      Middle class is not median income. It is a lifestyle that is enabled by income that fewer and fewer people can attain.

      • otp@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        There are different schools of thought.

        Some schools of thought say that anyone who has to work for their money (including business owners) are not upper class.

        I like going with the statistical middle class because it’s less subjective regarding what it’s actually the middle.

        • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          I can be less subjective. To afford the things I described I would assume a two earner household with income greater than $150k.

          • otp@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            2 months ago

            That’s approaching the top 10% of household incomes in the US. It seems odd to me to refer to that portion of the distribution as “middle”