NYT OP: Disney and the Decline of America's Middle Class

[edhopper]

9. What incomes do they consider each class

and how does that affect who can afford these higher prices?

This from a more recent Pew Survey.

The median income of middle-class households increased from about $66,400 in 1970 to $106,100 in 2022, or 60%. Over this period, the median income of upper-income households increased 78%, from about $144,100 to $256,900. (Incomes are scaled to a three-person household and expressed in 2023 dollars.)

The increase in Middle Class income has not kept pace with the higher prices for entertainment, travel, etc... And as these place charge more and more to get the Upper Class to spend, the Middle Class is excluded more and more.

What someone can afford on a Middle Class income is what erosion of the Middle Class is about.