Walk that treadmill. The downside is that it makes you really thin.

Another conservative denying science.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

I'm not denying science. I'm simply saying science is bullshit. I've never seen EVIL-lution but I have seen God. So BUGGER OFF.

Back to reality, income is not the only pathway to class.

I guess maybe I've been misinformed my whole life about what constitutes upper and middle class but that seems like an extremely low threshold for upper middle class.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

The difference between middle class and upper middle class is if they shop at Whole Foods or not.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You're mixing me up on the Home Alone 2 reference. I have never seen either of those movies and have no clue what you are talking about.

I rotate cardio (running) with upper body. We grew up Catholic and raised our children Lutheran, so you are dead on there.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

This says

35k-99k = middle class

100k-200k = upper

Id imagine there are quite a few CFMB households pulling in 6 figures combined with their spouse/gf/baby mama




The Upper Middle Class

According to census data from 2015, 6.1% of households bring in $200,000 and higher every year and 14.1% bring in between $100,000 and $150,000. This is the upper middle class.

An Urban Institute paper argued that what they referred to as upper middle class, or those with a three-person household income between $100,000 and $350,000, has grown from 12.9% of the population in 1979 to 29.4% in 2014. It found that people with higher incomes saw their earnings grow faster than those with lower incomes.

"The idea that the real divide is between ordinary members of the bottom 99% and the rich 1% is a dangerous one, since it makes it easier for those in the upper middle class to convince themselves they are in the same economic boat as the rest of America; they’re not," wrote Nathan Joo and Richard V. Reeves of the Brookings Institution.

The Middle Middle Class and Lower Middle Class

Given that "upper middle class" turns out to be a synonym for wealthy, the true middle class includes the middle middle class and the lower middle class.

The Census Bureau says that 41.5% of American households brought in between $35,000 and $100,000 in 2015. Twenty-six percent of American households earn more than that and 32% earn less. While this gives us a good idea of the incomes of the average American middle class household, the definitions of this group vary.

The Urban Institute defined the middle class as adults with size-adjusted household incomes of between $30,000 and $100,000 for families of three.

The Pew Research Center defines the middle-income category as including adults with family-of-three equivalent incomes between two-thirds and double the national median. This brings the range from $37,666 to $113,000 according to current levels. To see where you fit in, use the Pew calculator to make your household’s income equivalent to that of a three-person household (the whole number nearest to the average size of a U.S. household, which was 2.5 in 2014).

President Trump is right: the middle class is shrinking. This group used to make up the vast majority of the American population, but now stands at roughly 50% of the American population, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data. (See also: Why the American Middle Class is Shrinking)

And there's one more group in the middle class. Those belonging to the lower middle class do not live in poverty, but they are often one misfortune away from being hurtled below the poverty line. Brookings Institution defined this group as including those with income between 100 and 250% of the federal poverty level, or between $18,871 and $47,177 for a family of three, according to the current numbers.

The Poverty Level

The lowest class includes any American household that falls under the poverty line, meaning families or individuals who don't earn enough money to meet their basic needs. The Census Bureau estimates that about 14% of the U.S. population (approximately 43 million people) live below the poverty line and fall into this class today.

The current official poverty threshold is an income of $24,257 per year for a family of four and $18,871 for a family of three. This figure has often been hotly debated because many poor Americans live in urban areas that have a high cost of living, making it likely that people earning more would fit the definition of poverty in a high-cost city or region.

Wealth Distribution






As you can see, the U.S. population consists of a variety of different income classes, and the shrinking middle class points to growing income inequality.

It's not all bad news, however. Last year the Census Bureau stated that the median inflation-adjusted American household income increased 5.2% between 2014 and 2015, the first annual increase since 2007. The number of people in poverty also fell by 3.5 million between 2014 and 2015 ​(see Good News: Long-Awaited Wage Growth Is Finally Happening).

The Bottom Line
Politicians love to use the term "middle class" because it evokes images of vigorous, respectable, hard-working Americans with good moral values. Most people tend to think of themselves as middle class. But the truth is, the middle class includes people with vastly different lifestyles and concerns.

$62,500 income for an individual is HIGHER than the national median household income, and double that of the median individual income ($31,099).

So $62,500 individual income would be upper middle class unless you consider the median income of $31,099 to be below middle class, therefore half of the U.S. would be considered poor.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

It is. I don't think breaching six figures in modern day society makes you upper middle class. If you think it does, then you need to tier middle class even more. Many six figure income people have no wealth. They are making making mortgage and car payments and struggling at that. Upper middle class is different, way different.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

#Jewels4eva
#2good2b4got10
#mowimypopolsku

Actually, I mostly shop at Meijer's now. I thought the Meijer's in Evergreen Park would be a "black store," but it turns out that people decided not to give a shit.

Thank you for stating commonly known facts.

I think RPB's article is closer.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

You could be UMC if you have other assets. Income is just a small part of class. Assets and debts have enormous influence. This is why it is so good to leave your goods money...

His article says the same thing as mine. $100,000+ household income = upper middle class. I'm just using the individual income number of $62,500+ since I still identify as an individual.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Well, the difference between $100k and $350k is absolutely massive. Consider this, when you make $100k, that income is supporting a mortgage and two car payments and not much else beyond ordinary expenses like food, utilities and gas. Once you get to say $250k, that extra $150k per year is a bigger house, better cars, and lots of leisure money- vacations, eating out, entertainment, savings. Unless you are a moron and get too house horny, it is hard to spend it all.

Now you start accumulating excess cash for a decade, and it gets even easier. Eventually you don't have any debt and you still have that large check, bonus and equity compensation coming in. You get a bonus check and don't have anything to spend it on, so you just deposit it in the bank.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

No offense, but your buns are underdeveloped. Literally everyone says the same thing.

Please don't try to back off on your previous film criticism. It's a bad look.

(Denis--this is a joke)

You could have said something really funny here.

Making 3.5 times more money is a big difference.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

You're out of touch, again, when it comes to money, because you've been spending big for so long.

On $100,000 gross, you'll net about $70,000, or $5850 per month.

$5,850 per month... let's say you bought a $300,000 house with a decent downpayment
-$1900 mortage
-$700 car payments
-$200 car insurance
-$150 comcast
-$100 cell phones
-$300 monthly gas for the cars
-$500 groceries
-$125 electricity
-$70 water/garbage
-$100 gas

Right there you still have $1700 every month left over. And we didn't buy a Toyota iA or a 700 sq foot condo.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Looking at 350k a year weekly, comes to $6700. Just one weeks wages would take care of I'm guessing 99% of the bills for everyone on the board and thats just one weeks paycheck, leaving 20k for the rest of the month.I know most people accumulate more debt the more they make but I truly cant get my head around having 20k left over every month to do whatever. I cant see how you couldn't stack up enormous wealth after only a few years of that salary.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

LOL, so you have $20,400 in excess money per year. One decent vacation wipes out a quarter of that. We just have a very different definition of upper middle class. It's ok.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Taking this out of context makes it pretty funny.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm sorry you're starving.

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I like that Dennis and IMU cut out the middle man and just started bickering in this thread. Well done fellas.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Yes, yours is wrong. Upper Middle Class does not mean 3 mediterranean vacations per year.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

+ braces + student loans + saving for your children's college + sports or activity fees + clothing + car maintenance + house maintenance + (etc.)

As long as we agree that leash is 56, makes $452,060 a year, and can at least pass for white, our work is done here.

Add probably $100-150 a month for house upkeep. And if you have a pool add way more

Wow. $225 for gas and electric? Unless there is an unusually cold/hot spell, I'm typically at less than half of that.

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I know. It is funny that he thinks $20k in excess annual income makes one upper middle class. Clearly he is not planning to save either. But w/e.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Agreed, and same. But I tried to exaggerate expenses for a larger home than my own....I don't know what sq ft I was thinking...but I just took my own and raised it a bunch.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.