http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/11/news/economy/middle-class-wealth/
@dstark - I’m not sure what it was about your (SAT) post but it made me laugh really hard.
I wonder if this means I’m middle class. ~20k probably qualifies as 25th-ish percentile, yeah? lol
Are these household numbers? Because there absolutely are hairdressers, sales clerks, and even a part time physician I know making that kind of money. They definitely consider themselves middle class. And, they are by any lifestyle measure. But, not upper middle. That’s different.
According to this interactive chart from the NYT, in 2012 a household income of $250,000 put a family in the top 3% nationwide. Even in San Francisco it landed a family in the top 10%.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/15/business/one-percent-map.html?_r=0
Editing to add:
75th% $89,125
50th% $50,742
25th% $25,411
So Romanigypsyeyes, you’re not quite there yet. 
These numbers are from 2012 but I can’t imagine they’re more than a few thousand off of today’s numbers.
Family. thanks.
Maybe what we need is some sort of financial decoder so everyone can speak the same language. How much your income/assets equal, how old you are, how long you’ve made that income. Does your job include adequate health insurance, 401k or pension., where do you live.
Choose several different brackets and then we might all be talking about the same thing.
Do you have a rich husband? 
That could be another criteria. Along with do your in laws like you and how’s their health? 
But, in my example, what about the guy who for the last couple of years has been making $250K but has been living beyond his means (on the assumption his income will continue to rise), but, unbeknownst to him, his employer has decided to can him with, say, 3 months notice? And, say, the job market in his field happens to be terrible. The collective wisdom on this thread seems to be that the day before he gets the news, he’s upper class? What class is he in three months later when he’s unemployed?
This is not, by any means, an unusual scenario.
Yes, exactly or the self-employed guy with a little shop downtown and 6 employees and no retirement plan. He’s basically broke if he gets sick or sales slow down. This is not so easy at all…
He’s in the broke, unemployed and in debt class.
I’m not familiar with details of the the lawsuit, but I believe only 7 companies were named. There may be many others, but it is probably a small fraction of the total companies in the area. I expect it more relates to many tech fields having a high turnover and there being many similar job opportunities in the area, such that market theory applies more aptly than in many other fields. If a particular company starts underpaying its employees, they’ll have a high turnover rate with employees jumping ship and switching to other nearby companies where they can work in similar positions with more competitive salaries. A tech company where I have worked had this type of high turnover situation, and attempted to resolve it by giving every tech employee at the company a notable salary increase without a corresponding performance evaluation. Websites like Glassdoor and Salary.com also contribute since they allow employees to see what other companies are paying for similar positions.
How about someone who doesn’t have a high paycheck, has no kids, excellent job security, zero deductible health insurance, pension, 401k, no school debt, food provided at work, and lives in a low cost area. With cars given to him or her by their family?
A person like that can have far more disposable income than someone with a greater salary.
Glassdoor is a useful site, data10, but only as good as the self reported numbers provided.
He’s an upper-income guy who, like the rest of us, should be saving, not living beyond his means. The fact that he’s spending too much money makes him foolish, not middle class.
Busdriver11, you are not middle class. You may have been lower class, and middle class, but you are not middle class now.
Your class can change. You aren’t locked into your class. That means you can drop too…
There were plenty of people who dropped in class when the financial crisis hit.
I was lower middle class…that was a long time ago.
I am talking economic classes.
We have social classes that are more broad than just money. I could never be upper class no matter how much money I make. The way I was brought up is too ingrained. 
The people I know who are upper class don’t think like me. They don’t dress like me. That’s ok.
“We have social classes that are more broad than just money. I could never be upper class no matter how much money I make. The way I was brought up is too ingrained.”
Yes, me too. I was brought up by a father whom if he thought someone was acting too affected, would loudly make farting sounds while flapping his arms. It’s a lost cause
However, it is good to live in a place where people don’t seem to care about class very much. I may be considered upper middle class now, but to me it’s still in the realm of middle class. And one serious life event can take it all away.
Well… I am not immune to a negative life event too. But until that happens…,
Might as well enjoy who we really are while we can.,.
Most people are not going to fly first class once in their lives. Never going to live in a house worth a million today…never send their kids to private schools…never make 6 figures without inflation…
Like my sister says, being rich doesn’t make you happy. But being poor can make you REALLY unhappy. And she knows what she’s talking about!
Yes, H and I had our income class change over the years. When we just started our marriage, we were middle class with our combined incomes. We dropped to the bottom of middle class when I stopped working to raise our kids. We slowly rose while H’s income slowly rose and I started getting part time jobs as the kids were older.
We are now solidly no longer middle class, but lived so much of our life as middle class, it’s hard to think of ourselves as no longer middle class.
I think H and I are not alone in having our mindset no longer match our income. It’s an odd feeling, especially when your siblings and many of your friends make SUBSTANTIALLY more than you.