
The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground - kushti
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/09/the-american-middle-class-is-losing-ground/
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AlexB138
> “middle-income” Americans are defined as adults whose annual household
> income is two-thirds to double the national median, about $42,000 to
> $126,000 annually in 2014 dollars for a household of three.

$42k for a household of three seems very low to be considered middle-class. I
suppose in rural areas that makes sense, but in most population centers that
would be fairly impoverished.

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kristopolous
Conceptually speaking, I think we generally understand what middle income
means. People living plainly and comfortably who don't have lavish things or
have to surmount debt to stay out of homelessness.

I'm pretty surprised how high that number is.

I live in Los Angeles. I have a one bedroom apt and a 10 year old car. I eat
in, try to be thrifty, take trips a few times a year but stay in modest
accommodations or couch surf.

With tax, I'd need about 55k to support this lifestyle with zero savings.

That's $26/hr fulltime - a number probably out of reach for the majority of
the city workforce.

I wonder how most people get by.

I think people should openly discuss these things - you can't create a
transparent open market of human capital if we can't culturally speak of how
much we charge and get.

Income disclosure is a method of self organizing towards a more equitable
society.

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sharetea
upper class increased from 29% to 49% from 1970 to today

lower class decreased from 10% to 9% from 1970 to today

that looks pretty good to me

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colordrops
Those percentages are total income, not population. You've got it completely
wrong.

~~~
johnm1019
this. here's the graph which clearly labels it as aggregate income.
[http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2015/12/ST_2015-12-09_m...](http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2015/12/ST_2015-12-09_middle-
class-01.png)

