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Wow that was really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

I think there is a lot more that goes into determining "middle class" than just income. Obviously where you live, but also your age, your education/job, how many people in your house are working, how many kids you have, what sorts of expenses you have (loans, daycare, etc).

For example if you have one person making 75,000 in middle of nowhere kansas and you have one or two kids (but no daycare because one spouse stays home) and no student loans... you're probably upper middle class and have quite a bit of wiggle room. If you have both adults working to make $75,000 in Chicago and three kids, two of whom are in daycare because there is no one home to watch them, and if you have any debt you're paying off-- you probably feel really broke. I guess my point is that disposable income is more important than actual income, and that can be affected by tons of things.

You also can't really tell just from looking at someone or how they live. When I lost my job our % went down 20 percentile for our area or 40 for the national average. But looking at us you wouldn't think we look any different even though we are living on substantially less now. The difference is that when I was working we were contributing a lot to savings and retirement and paying on all of our loans. Because I haven't found work yet we suspended our savings efforts and put my law school loans on deferment. So things might not look different but before we had a lot of cushion (which made me feel like we were more upper middle class) and now we are living more paycheck to paycheck (with just the savings we'd already amassed as an emergency fund) which makes me feel solidly middle class.

I did the US as a whole

@jedeve: SO true about income varying per region. My H and I both took a pay cut when we moved out of the NYC area. Not ideal, but it was for my H's dream job and our expenses are also less. Luckily after a year and a half, I've made up the difference (though my H hasn't), but there are definitely always going to be tradeoffs based on where you live!

@Anagram: I guess I would tend to define "class" in a more broad monetary way and not so much based on backgrounds like education.

I am a few months away from a master's degree. DH didn't finish college. He makes more than me and works in the service industry. Am I considered a higher class because I have more education and work at a computer even though I make slightly less money?

To me, that just doesn't make sense. In the same way that it doesn't make sense to categorize a person with an advanced degree who makes twice as much as me but doesn't spend it well as upper class.

I voted wrong- oops...

I am bottom 40% - not surprising to me at all. I haven't entered my real career yet- once I do we'll be top half.

@Anagram: @MaryM: I wonder about this too. Where i live, those who work in the trades start at about $100k per year. I think working class refers more to their social status, since based on income, they'd be in middle class.

The reason why I personally think it's so important to be aware of your financial position relative to the rest of the country is because I feel like it helps inspire generosity when you confront how wealthy you really are. As others have said, it's easy in the US to assume you're middle class, but when you realize you're far above that, I think it can help people realize they are in a position to help others out through charity and supporting public policy that helps out the poor. At least that's how I feel on my optimistic days.

@Anagram: I think you'll like this: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_01.html

It's an interesting way to calculate which "class" you are based on varying facets, like different careers.

@Anagram: top 10% for the US, top 19% for my area.

@MaryM: I think they absolutely can! Especially if you think about people with generational wealth.

And that is exactly what my point in this whole discussion is, it's not just about your job, etc.

@ShootingStar: I like that one a lot more!

I think it makes more sense to weigh all of those factors together than to say that someone who makes less than X amount or has less than X education is of a lower class.

@jedeve: "So, yes you can be in the upper twenty percent and still struggling because most of the wealth is still concentrated at the very top. "

Totally agree - the jump from top 10% to top 5% or 1% are huge leaps, not the same as the jump from top half to top 10%. Income mobility is so unequal.

@PawPrints: I think about this a lot, and thought about it when I saw the graph today with my placement. If I am having to budget and be conscious of spending and drive a 10 year old car (and still be in the top 10% in my state), how stressed about $$ are the other 90%? good lord. I definitely give more because I realize how lucky I am to be in the position I'm in - - even though that position isn't rich/luxury/safe/super comfortable, and even though it's one I worked hard for. Everyone's working hard out there.

There was an interesting point in one of the NYT articles I read (I've been jumping from article to article so I'm not sure which one) that talked about the difference between 1-percenters and everyone else. They said that if you take away the mortgage interest deduction, then the people who are truly in the top percent don't have any kind of a lifestyle change. Whereas people who are "merely" upper class, would fight tooth and nail to not have that happen.

That, to me, illustrates the difference between the truly wealthy, and considering yourself middle class, even if it's upper middle.

I live abroad, so I didn't vote, but high taxes and cost of living aside, I think middle class is about lifestyle and comfort - not in material possessions, but about stability and being able to provide for your family and needing to budget a little to afford some luxuries. This accounts for the millionaire next door driving a beat-up truck and the neighbors with a yacht that's buried in debt; their real financial stability isn't obvious from an outsider's perspective, but their individual comfort level would be a better indicator.

With 120 votes so far, I'm the only person who is in the bottom 10%. It sort of confirms my feelings that I'm in a different standard of living than the rest of the board.

I took this the other day andcouldn't believe where we stood. It definitely doesn't feel right since we are taxed so high and have to pay a ton for childcare. After that there really isn't a lot left.