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  1. #1

    What is middle class?

    How much wealth do you need to have to be considered part of the middle class?

    I guess middle class is more about stability i.e. good long term job/career, not necessarily how much cash you might have in your bank today.

  2. #2
    In the US it varies by state and H.H. size. But it's somewhere between 68k-80k for a 2.5 person household. Again, location matters a lot.

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    I was almost in the middle of middle class...and that lasted for good few years.

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    Middleclass in the Netherlands is between 75 and 200% of the median net income, which is 34.000 euro. So if you earn between 25.000 and 68.000 a year (after taxes), you’re middleclass.

  5. #5
    Over 9000! Milchshake's Avatar
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    These days Middle class is treated as an aesthetic that makes wealth meaningless.

    Anyone that drives a truck and wears a Mossy Oak ballcap is typically assumed to be middle class these days.
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    Quote Originally Posted by PresidentElectMilchschake View Post
    These days Middle class is treated as an aesthetic that makes wealth meaningless.

    Anyone that drives a truck and wears a Mossy Oak ballcap is typically assumed to be middle class these days.
    Trucks are expensive, automatically high class sorry.
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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Sorensen View Post
    Trucks are expensive, automatically high class sorry.
    Used trucks exist, as does financing, and even new trucks can be had fairly cheap. Toyota Tacoma is 26150 MSRP. For comparison, that's only 5k over a Honda Civic.
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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Sorensen View Post
    Trucks are expensive, automatically high class sorry.
    Financing and loan standards for cars are ludicrous you can drive a very expensive car and barely make 35K/year with bad credit it's pretty insane. I wouldn't put the car you drive as indication of anything, plenty of people live in debt to keep up appearances.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by PresidentElectMilchschake View Post
    Anyone that drives a truck and wears a Mossy Oak ballcap is typically assumed to be middle class these days.
    This is really biased. I have no clue what Mossy Oak is till reading your post. But from what I think you are describing, that image is not at all thought of as Middle Class.

    I work in market research and part of my job is demographic breakdowns by region.

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    Depends which country you live in and also which part of the country you live in. For example, in the UK, the average wage is £30,800, whereas around my area that would be considered a very good wage. In London, you'd struggle to get by earning that much.

    Average wage for an entire country is a bit misleading to me, as the data is inflated and skewed by densely populated and more upmarket/expensive locations such as capitals.

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    Quote Originally Posted by PresidentElectMilchschake View Post
    These days Middle class is treated as an aesthetic that makes wealth meaningless.

    Anyone that drives a truck and wears a Mossy Oak ballcap is typically assumed to be middle class these days.
    I disagree that tangible items automatically make someone middle class, as it can all be a ruse to give off the illusion of that. For example, I've seen people 18/19 driving around in Golf Rs, which are expensive cars. The catch is that they live at home and have a job, but spend 95% of their wage on that car. So you might think woah he's doing well, when really it's stupidity more than anything else. Some of my relatives are the same, they have a lot of "nice" stuff, yet it's all on finance and credit and sometimes they struggle to pay for it.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Boybae View Post
    How much wealth do you need to have to be considered part of the middle class?

    I guess middle class is more about stability i.e. good long term job/career, not necessarily how much cash you might have in your bank today.
    according to google

    "5 Pew defines the middle class as those earning between two-thirds and double the median household income. This Pew classification means that the category of middle-income is made up of people making somewhere between $40,500 and $122,000"

    so 40k lowest middle class - 120k upper middle class. middle middle class would be by definition +/- 80k a year.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Fencers View Post
    This is really biased. I have no clue what Mossy Oak is till reading your post. But from what I think you are describing, that image is not at all thought of as Middle Class.

    I work in market research and part of my job is demographic breakdowns by region.
    The image reflects the "working man" appearance around here. Infers a typical blue collar job which is firmly middle class wage. I think most single guys are content with such a wage as they can afford most luxuries. It's a 40hr work week with benefits with casual downtime.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fencers View Post
    This is really biased. I have no clue what Mossy Oak is till reading your post. But from what I think you are describing, that image is not at all thought of as Middle Class.

    I work in market research and part of my job is demographic breakdowns by region.
    All that market research and you never heard of Duck Dynasty? Do you interview in regions where Mossy Oak is prevalent? Because people that wear it, sure consider themselves to be middle class or working class.

    Feel free to correct them of their notion.

    I dont endorse their notion. I was mocking it actually. Like someone pointed out above, some trucks are garishly expensive. Especially the extra heavy duty rated trucks. With nice dynamax suspensions ... used to haul very expensive toys around.

    Did you know that Mossy Oak is a lifestyle brand? I wonder who does their market research...
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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by PresidentElectMilchschake View Post
    All that market research and you never heard of Duck Dynasty? Do you interview in regions where Mossy Oak is prevalent? Because people that wear it, sure consider themselves to be middle class or working class.

    Feel free to correct them of their notion.

    I dont endorse their notion. I was mocking it actually. Like someone pointed out above, some trucks are garishly expensive. Especially the extra heavy duty rated trucks. With nice dynamax suspensions ... used to haul very expensive toys around.

    Did you know that Mossy Oak is a lifestyle brand? I wonder who does their market research...
    I think we.. might have a piece or two of mossy oak? that we got from a thriftshop for a song. nice for hunting and yardwork. certainly not buying it new.

    yes some trucks are garishly expensive. others are just workhorses, good for not so great roads and when you need extra space to haul stuff around. we got our compact one used - only cost like 2k more then sedan would have cost us, but its much more useful then a sedan for us (among other things, never having to rent a Uhaul again or taking multiple trips to home depot in the same day is nice). are we middle class? sure, by some definition. are we high class? not even remotely.

    the funny thing about duck dynasty is that the bearded camo redneck look? exaggerated and put on for the show (there are plenty of pictures of them clean shaven and wearing regular suits). because that is what general populace expects.

    but in any case, the point is, you cannot just look at someone and decide what strata they belong to on a basis of superficial appearance alone.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by PresidentElectMilchschake View Post
    All that market research and you never heard of Duck Dynasty?
    Yea, that show ended years ago.


    Do you interview in regions where Mossy Oak is prevalent?
    The US nationwide, Mexico, Canada, UK, Germany, and Brazil.

    Because people that wear it, sure consider themselves to be middle class or working class.
    They might, individually. But as a whole, not at all. Again, it was a biased view originally.


    Did you know that Mossy Oak is a lifestyle brand? I wonder who does their market research...
    Any company can brand themselves as whatever they like, that's marketing. Market Research is more about quantitative and qualitative analysis of product viability within the marketplace.

    It is an incredibly narrow slice of the US to associate with "Mossy Oak" given there are far more mainstream examples and demo breaks coast-to-coast.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by PresidentElectMilchschake View Post
    I dont endorse their notion. I was mocking it actually. Like someone pointed out above, some trucks are garishly expensive. Especially the extra heavy duty rated trucks. With nice dynamax suspensions ... used to haul very expensive toys around.
    Country cowboy cadillacs...unless the truck is a raptor, which seems to be in a class on its own.

  17. #17
    A poor person who owes more money on their bigger house and nicer car.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Ivanstone View Post
    A poor person who owes more money on their bigger house and nicer car.
    Location and family size matter a lot. It is very possible for a household for 2 with $40k/year jobs to own a home in some parts of the US and not in other parts of the world.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Fencers View Post
    Location and family size matter a lot. It is very possible for a household for 2 with $40k/year jobs to own a home in some parts of the US and not in other parts of the world.
    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.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Ivanstone View Post
    Quite frankly class distinctions are irrelevant.
    Class isn't a matter of wealth . . .
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    Posting here is primarily a way to strengthen your own viewpoint against common counter-arguments.

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