What is middle class?

[Fencers]

Having a cheaper house means you also have less wealth. Those places with cheap houses often have poor or non-existent public transportation which forces you to either have a car or use it more often and pay more upkeep on it.

This is common but not necessarily a given anymore. More people work from home than ever and many places in the US have city-to-burb express commutes that allow one to travel easily if necessary.

I lived outside of San Francisco, in Oakland in the mid-00s, but I was paid well above the salary for a company based in Germany and my husband worked at SF rates. We lived in a relatively cheap neighborhood compared to the millionaire "middle class" of SF. Same as when I lived in Boston and now Chicago. Using myself as an example here, but my current company employs a bunch of folks who choose to live in far more rural Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Florida, and so on in the last few years but are paid NYC-based rates for the most part.

Especially with call centers and online service orientated jobs moving to mostly middle America and rural America, they pay rather well relatively speaking.

It is still possible for a young couple to have a middle-class income and not be in debt necessarily due to having a "nicer house/car".

At the end of the day, there's a good chance you're still living month to month even if you're technically "middle class".

Sure.

Quite frankly class distinctions are irrelevant.

No. They are still important to a variety of things and do absolutely have relevance to one's financial and social status. Class is the struggle, the battleground. Everything in society is about value and the assignment of value.

[kamuimac]

Having a cheeper house means you also have less wealth. Those places with cheep houses often have poor or non-existent public transportation which forces you to either have a car or use it more often and pay more upkeep on it.

At the end of the day, there's a good chance you're still living month to month even if you're technically "middle class". Quite frankly class distinctions are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is how resistant to disaster are you. I'm technically poor as fuck but I also have some wealth, I have no debt, I can walk to work and I live in a county with reasonable healthcare access.

people who live like this need to seriously reevaluate their lives.

but i guess some really live only to show off where they got. instead investing into future to leave something to their kids/future generation of their family .

[Shadowferal]

Those living from paycheck to paycheck are unable to do anything that gets them "out" but keep treading water to prevent them from sinking. This is capitalism that champions minimum wage jobs with little to no benefits to work 24/7 to keep you in your place. If government had a system that gave free healthcare to anyone working 2 jobs or more, that system would crash.

[Fencers]

people who live like this need to seriously reevaluate their lives.

Not everyone living paycheck-to-paycheck is doing so because they are overspending or otherwise making poor financial decisions they have reasonable control over.

It is possible for a single medical emergency in the US to devastate a family for generations. And they didn't have to do anything but like catch pneumonia, for example.

[Theodarzna]

Middle Class is mostly a fake designation. I'd say to be really "middle class" you'd have to occupy some position of managing labor on behalf of capital. You don't own, but you wield power.

[Spectral]

As near as I can tell, "middle class" for most people means being better than those lazy poors, but not greedy like those rich fuckers. Hence how you get people everywhere from $25K to $250K household income that identify as "middle class".

[Theodarzna]

As near as I can tell, "middle class" for most people means being better than those lazy poors, but not greedy like those rich fuckers. Hence how you get people everywhere from $25K to $250K household income that identify as "middle class".

Middle-Class is a fictitious designation for the most part. I'd say that Professional Managerial Class to some extent exists because they have a weird relationship to owners and workers, but Middle Class is a vague concept with no clear meaningful definition.

[tehealadin]

Not sure. I think it is a combination of things, if it is a thing. I think I have a middle class job and am a home owner, however I come from a deprived area. I think upbringing is a big part of this. I don't see myself as middle class. The place I live is one of the most deprived in my country. I remember going to university (2nd person in my family) and meeting people from difference backgrounds, people raised middle class and felt very different at times. Not a judgement on them, however it was noticeable at times, in the way we spoke (this was a massive difference), how we dressed, hobbies and cultural experiences we had, even food we have tasted. In a way it has helped me in my work, I am a teacher and the school I work in has probably the most affluent catchment area in the authority (which isn't really saying too much), we don't have many problem kids (by that I mean ones from hellish homes), however I tend to get on very well with those kids as they were the kinds I used to hang around with growing up, and to some extent was myself. I also speak noticeably different from most of my colleagues. I remember the first school I worked in (a high deprivation area) and one of the first comments I got from a pupil was "you talk like us". So even though economically I am better off than many in my area (though this wouldn't be the case in other areas, I live in an ex mining village), and on this measure alone I'd likely be considered middle class, however I don't see myself as such, I think upbringing is very important in regards to class, especially in the UK (not sure how it is elsewhere). I personally don't put much stock in the idea of class, however at least in the UK it is still a thing and it still has impact. The education secretary commented this year in relation to exam results that they needed the models they used to stop "people rising above their stations". And by this he didn't mean rising based on their competence and skill. He meant people from the wrong schools and the wrong side of the tracks getting top jobs. The current UK cabinet is a striking example of this.

[Witchblade77]

Not everyone living paycheck-to-paycheck is doing so because they are overspending or otherwise making poor financial decisions they have reasonable control over.

It is possible for a single medical emergency in the US to devastate a family for generations. And they didn't have to do anything but like catch pneumonia, for example.

holy shit, this.

both our well pump AND our water heater broke in rapid succession - that put a major dent into emergency fund. and then had to have dental work done. (and I do mean had to, tooth broke, was in pain couldn't eat - ended up having to get a root canal AND a crown for it) unfortunately, while our insurance covers regular medical emergencies (there is still a hospital copay, but its not a thousands of dollars worth if deductibles so our emergency fund covers it no problem) its dental coverage is $500 a year (so exam and cleaning, maybe one basic filling - rest is out of pocket) took half a year to pay that off.

and we are the lucky ones. as I said, our insurance doesn't have insane deductibles like so many other people's and while copays have doubled in the last couple of years, they are still very manageable.

emergencies happen. and sometimes even if you set aside money for the emergencies, they happen in such a rapid succession that your emergency fund disappears in a blink of an eye and now you are stuck living paycheck to paycheck, hoping nothing else happens while you try to rebuild it.