General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: $20,833.00 per month???? [View all]Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)At least that's what I always heard it referred to as. Lower middle class is close to poor. Would be considered poor by wealthy people, but technically not poor. They're lower middle class. Middle class is what you are thinking of. The average Joe and spouse. Then there's the upper middle class, which to the lower middle class may seem rich, but technically not. They are upper middle class, close to wealthy. Nice houses, expendable income, can probably save for their kids' college education, etc.
I would consider $250k, esp for a two-income family, to be upper middle class, not wealthy. Although they certainly do well. But I think of rich as someone who doesn't even need to keep track of income; he just puts money in the bank over and over again. Maybe someone with an income of several hundred thousand for an individual? (depending on where the individual lives)
And don't forget that in the northeast, California, and maybe parts of other areas, $250,000 income is not that much. But $250,000 in Mississippi would mean you're flying high.
But there has to be a country average, and the line has to be drawn somewhere.