| UCLAri, a median household (it isn't really family, members of household need not be related) income of 100K will seem far more middle class to a single person with no children than to a family with several kids. So, I think you are safe--for the time being.
djvu, I agree there is really no comparison in life-style/comfort/security between families with income of 40K and 200K. However, there is even less similarity between a family with no inherited assets and annual income of 200K from wages and someone with many hundreds of millions in assets and who knows what annual income. So, if we decide the 200K family with no assets beyond one home and a couple of old cars is not middle class, just what are they? I know rich people; they don't live like families with school age kids, no inherited wealth and annual income of 150-200K (after years of lower income).
This is why the common use of the 50K median household income bothers me when the discussion centers on college affordability. |