Posted on 06/24/2016 12:48:21 PM PDT by Lorianne
What's left unsaid is much of the upper middle class is prospering due to privileged positions that are increasingly at risk of disruption ___ What does it take to be upper middle class? According to one analyst, the answer is: at least $100,000 a year for a family of three. The Growing Size and Incomes of the Upper Middle Class (Urban Institute).
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/06/21/not-just-the-1-the-upper-middle-class-is-larger-and-richer-than-ever/
The paper claims the upper middle class has grown from 12.9% of the population in 1979 to 29.4% in 2014--in essence, the shrinkage of the "middle class" is not just from households dropping down the ladder but millions of households climbing up to the upper middle class.
Not Just the 1%: The Upper Middle Class Is Larger and Richer Than Ever (WSJ.com)
While the evidence broadly supports this secular shift--the concentration of income and wealth in the top 20% increases while the wealth and income of the bottom 80% stagnates--I think the claim that 30% of all U.S. households are upper middle class grossly overstates the reality, which is it's become increasingly costly to even qualify as middle class, never mind upper middle class.
(Excerpt) Read more at charleshughsmith.blogspot.jp ...
Obviously the definition is subjective, I would suggest Upper Middle Class could be defined as having $50,000 - $100,000 of disposable income after the mandatory and essential costs have been paid (taxes, housing costs, utilities, insurance, and food).
A job with the government is the quickest path to becoming a member of the upper middle class.
$2 million in cash plus properties
What does it take to be upper middle class?
Being able to ask, “Pardon me, but would you happen to have any Grey Poupon?” and knowing that the answer will be “But of course!”
;^)
High income doesn’t equal high net worth. That hasn’t changed since the Millionaire Next Door came out.
That would be virtually every UAW auto worker in S.E. Michigan who has the opportunity for overtime..........go figure.
$100,000 maybe in nice places like Nebraska
at least $500,000 in LA or SF or NYC
And, that’s obviously with both adults working.
For me, I have a family of 6 people, 7 animals. (Wife, 3 kids, dad, dogs/cats, and myself). So, my salary, at less than 100,000, puts me at not in the upper middle class.
And to think, my dad making 2/3rds what I make now was upper middle class in the early/mid 80’s.
Purchasing power has eroded and is almost unbelievably low.
What does it take to be upper middle class? Quiet farts.
Don’t know about other parts of the country, but I would say in the greater NY metro area (including Long Island and the upper 1/2 of NJ) you’d need AT LEAST $600,000 per year in income to be considered “upper middle class” if you had any more than one child.
Have one child that is almost ready for college.
The property tax on a 1800 sq ft home is $510 a month. Will have the mortgage paid off in two years but the property tax will continue to rise forever.
The taxes to pay off all the union employees in government is what kills you.
That’s a bit of an exaggeration. It’s about $300k to have a nice house in a good school district with most the trimmings in the NY suburbs — so $300k, maybe $350k for a two earning family given the costs of the second income. You can spend vastly more, but you don’t have to do so to hold your head high. $90k in deductible mortgage interest, property tax, and state income tax, $60k in federal income and payroll tax, and $150k for cost of living and savings.
Eh, to me that would make you middle class but not upper middle class. And I don’t know how far out you are going in your NYC suburbs, but my mom-in-law’s house sold for over 500K in late 2007, it’s about 40 minutes outside of Manhattan in Nassau County. It might sell for less that that now, but nowhere near 300K.
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