@emmierose80 I have a mortgage, but I refinanced when rates were low and my payment is $456 including taxes and insurance. It's not quite paid off but since I have no other loans it feels great and I feel like I'm solid middle class here. Granted I'm also handy and do house work myself.
@resjudicata The only way this makes sense in Texas is the rural areas just far out weigh the metro areas. $66k doesn’t go far at all in any of the bigger cities.
@resjudicata Both the article and the calculator itself conflates middle class with middle income. This data supports middle income. Middle class is a bit more difficult to define.
@resjudicata This is so wrong. $76k a year in MA would NOT make you middle class. Unless we are changing the definition of middle class. In my mind, owning a home is one of the main parts and you can’t buy a home in MA on that. Maybe if you made that 15 years ago, but not anymore. Hell, most new cars would be 3/4 of that amount. On $74k you aren’t owning a home OR buying a new car.
@ace2015 Yea the governments definition of middle class and the avg persons is WAY OFF.
Most people define it as: own a home, decent car, extra money for maybe 1 vacation per year, money to invest in retirement.
The government thinks in terms of just being able to survive. Work eat sleep rinse wash repeat. They don’t take into account quality of life and the ability to do anything else.