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Sigh. $100,000 is not middle-class income. It's 85th percentile. Well, well above "middle."
The middle quintile is $35,000-$55,000.
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Why do you insist on defining the "middle" in middle class in rigid mathematical terms of the 40th-60th percentiles of income spread?
Economists and sociologists don't use this as a definition. I doubt people making $35K self-identify as "middle-class". In many parts of this country you cannot live what is typically considered a "middle-class" lifestyle on $35K, or even $55K.
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class:
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Sociologist Leonard Beeghley identifies a male making $57,000 and a female making $40,000 with a combined households income of $97,000 as a typical middle class family.[30] Sociologists William Thompson and Joseph Hickey estimate an income range of roughly $35,000 to $75,000 for the lower middle class and $100,000 or more for the upper middle class. Many social scientists including economist Michael Zweig and sociologist Dennis Gilbert contend that middle class persons usually have above median incomes.
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These all put "middle class" in the $75,000-$100,000 range.