Hooray you’re middle class in Texas!

resjudicata

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A recent study has figured out the minimum annual income required for a family of four to be considered middle class in each state.

The middle class is capturing a lower share of income than in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, according to Oliver Rust, head of product at independent inflation data aggregator Truflation.

Rust said during an interview with Consumer Affairs that in the two decades since the mid-2000s, the portion of the country that is middle class has shrunk from roughly 60%. Instead, there has been a steep increase at the extreme bottom and top of the economic spectrum.

Inflation has surged in the past few years, peaking at 9% in June 2022. That means some families who were middle class in 2020 may no longer be in that category. The Pew Research Center says the share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021.

So what is the minimum annual income required in 2023 for a family of four to be middle class in Texas?

According to the numbers, you would have to make $66,597 to be considered middle class in the Lone Star State.

That is 30th among states.

Consumer Affairs found that number by using a calculator provided by the Pew Research Center and an inflation calculator provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which state tops the list?

Hawaii tops the list, with an annual income of $82,630 required to be considered middle class.

D.C. is tied with New York in second place, at $81,396. New Jersey and New York are tied for third, and Massachusetts ranks 4th at $76,463.

The bottom five include Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, West Virginia and Mississippi, with only $60,431 needed to be considered middle class in the Magnolia State.

The nation’s median household income was $70,784 in 2021, according to census data.

https://www.fox4news.com/news/middle-class-minimum-income-texas
 
@resjudicata Someone who bought a house 10 years ago.

there’s increasing stratification between people who own homes and people who don’t that I feel is never taken into account in these surveys. If your house is going up in value and your mortgage is reasonable and set to never change, you’re going to feel wealthier than someone making more money than you but who is also paying rent in a market where the rent is going up every year.

I make more money than my parents ever did and certainly more than they are getting now that they’re retired, but they live in a 4 bedroom house with a pool and my wife and I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and we probably pay about 1.5x what they do in total housing costs. Inflation is pinching them too with groceries and everything else, but housing is always going to be the main expense of working people and some people have their housing costs fixed and some do not.

$66k still seems ridiculous, but if the housing cost is low enough it could work. I could see that with someone who bought a house in Texas 10+ years ago. I’m not trying to say that $66k is manageable or anything, but I feel like studies like this use stuff like average housing costs and it’s all askew.
 
@theoldranger Mortgage may stay the same but homeowners insurance, property tax, and upkeep all go up every year too. This is partly why rents go up.

My "mortgage" payment (principal and interest) is less than half of my total amount sent to the mortgage owner every month because of escrow.
 
@boy16boy This is always news to someone who doesn't own a home. I remember back when I was still renting dreaming of those "locked in payments" when I eventually bought a house. It's been 3 years and each year the price goes up. It sucks if you own or rent but there are gradations of suck.
 
@tumie Yeah, mine's gone up for my house. It's probably $200 a month higher than it was 6 years ago but the place I was renting before is $600 higher.
 
@theoldranger Even just 5 years ago. I bought a house in 2018 and my mortgage is like $1000 less than what my BIL is getting for quotes on a 2 bedroom apartment in the same area. So he'd need to make $12k more than me to have a worse quality of life.
 
@resjudicata I said this in the same post elsewhere.

I'm from California, Orange county recently redefined it's poverty line as $83k for a single earner. $115k for a family.

This study says a family of 4 is middle class at $69k, or about 1/2 of what the county defined as in poverty.
 
@jennipher They must be pulling in a lot from rural areas in the state. I'm in CT and there's no way we're more expensive than the most populated parts of California. I've made job offers to people in LA and SF regions and they're always making more than we're paying, but the cost of living is different. It's the only part of the country where I see that happen except NYC.
 
@tcm1 The thing is even rural CA is expensive, I'm near Dallas which I would call MCOL and fast approaching HCOL, and it's still cheaper than rural CA.
 
@jennipher If you wanted to get what true middle class is you’d go back to postwar America (1950’s) and and adjust for inflation back then to see what the avg person should be making now
 
@mustapha It's because people spent the last 150 years moving in. It had to have a correction at some point. And a correction to the population via migration is not a bad thing.
 
@resjudicata I was trying to figure out if they meant per adult because there’s no way you’re making it work for 4 people on 66k and you’re middle class. Grocery costs are up, gas is up, rent is up…this is only middle class if you live on beans, rice, own your car, and pay $1k in rent. By the time utilities, insurance(s) hit, subscriptions services, food, there’s little to even save.
 

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