It's not entirely inconceivable that the middle class is 6% of the population, or less.
Perhaps another way of thinking about the situation, is not that the middle class can't afford traditional middle class amenities, but that the proportion of people who can afford those amenities is shrinking.
It's not entirely inconceivable that the middle class is 6% of the population, or less.
<pedant>That's not how this works. Middle-class, is by definition, somewhere in the middle of the household income range. Exact position is open to debate, but you can't just declare "only the top 6% are middle class!"</pedant>
That's perfectly fair, and I don't think it's pedandic at all. Maybe we just need to re-think the traditional notion of the US as a "middle class society," and what that means. It conjures up expectations in my mind (house, car, kids, etc.) that might not be realistic any more.
Absolutely true. But with other posts throwing out $200k as a normal middle-class income, we probably need to define what we're actually talking about. The income range, or the lifestyle expectations. The whole point of the article (and others like it) is that the two things are moving in opposite directions.
This is entirely my point and it seems I've done a bad job at explaining it. If a house, car, kids, etc is middle class then you need the salary to match it. What people are calling a middle class lifestyle doesn't match up with their definition of middle class income.
I'd imagine that's less so when you look at popular cities. The parent post wanted an opinion on middle class. My opinion is that middle class incomes in cities is around $200k (or should be if you want to be somewhat comfortable). I see houses all around me in Portland going for $800k, $900k, and $1mm plus. That's certainly much more than what a middle class income could afford. So considering those prices are fairly standard, the middle class income has to be at $200k. Whether that's reality or not the math just doesn't work any other way.
> So considering those prices are fairly standard, the middle class income has to be at $200k
I think there is a reason why everyone is railing/downvoting on Ryan here, and it's because of a difference in definition. There's two ways to define "middle class". One is by what you can afford: house, car, but not stuff like a private boat, etc. The other way is just by taking some middle percentage of the income brackets (middle 60% or whatever).
Historically[1], Ryan is actually right here. For the baby boomers, both groups are right because they overlap.
Much of the societal issues were seeing and will continue to see for the near future are because those groups are once again starting to not overlap (in certain areas, as highlighted by the original article).
[1] Right by historically, I mean that centuries ago the lower class was like 90% of the population or something... Middle Class was mostly not a thing.
In order to live in those cities you do need a household income of $200K+. But that is not middle class. In such cities the statistical middle class would be $50-75K, but as a percentage of the population it would be a small (and increasingly smaller) group... Which is the crux of the problem.
Nationwide the middle class is more like $40-50K (household income).
If your household (how many earners it is comprised of) is over $100K in annual earnings then you're in the top quartile (25%!) of the entire country in income, and decidedly not "middle class" (though, depending on where you live, you may or may not have enough to afford a home, much less a boat, a beach bungalow, eating out, going to the bars, etc.). Keep in mind that a lot of these cities are okay for singles, but once those singles get married and have kids they rapidly discover they can't afford the big city anymore and have to leave.
The argument was that middle class could afford a decent place in cities with lowered standards -- but you define middle class as "people who can afford a decent place in cities?" Surely you see the circularity here.
Those prices are not standard for Portland. There are tons of houses to be had in Portland for $300k-$500k. And many of those are in neighborhoods that most of America would consider insufferably hip.
