The report, which crunched the numbers for all 50 states, is based on Pew Research’s definition of middle class: two-thirds to double the median household income.
This kinda strikes me as a bit of a disingenuous definition. Being middle class always struck me as having a moderate amount of disposable income after all regular life expenses.
If you’re living in an expensive part of your state, you could well be above that 66% of median state income mark, but still be quite impoverished.
I agree, but I think I can guess why they do that - they can maybe get total income from aggregate tax records, but disposable income would have to be asked individually.
This kinda strikes me as a bit of a disingenuous definition. Being middle class always struck me as having a moderate amount of disposable income after all regular life expenses.
If you’re living in an expensive part of your state, you could well be above that 66% of median state income mark, but still be quite impoverished.
by zip code instead of state would had been more useful, but would be a very long article
PA is a good example of this. The “high middle class” income is about $150k. That’s great if you live in Dubois but not so great in Philly.
I agree, but I think I can guess why they do that - they can maybe get total income from aggregate tax records, but disposable income would have to be asked individually.