MSN Money

9 ways to know if you're middle class

There's no hard-and-fast definition, but surveys show what kind of income and lifestyle you're likely to have if you -- and others -- think you're middle class.

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809Comments
Dec 7, 2012 7:05PM
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well, i must be in the poverty class so why do i pay so much on April 15th, cause Seniors have no deductions and always have to pay, love the Obama yeears
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As a "semi-retired" male with a wife and no one else at home,,,I feel left out of the conversation...We have been in the middle class all our married life, but we have not taken a lot of vacations, did not save for our daughter's college, just paid it as it came, (as well as her private schools from k - graduate), and have not saved anything near what we will need to retire, which is why I am "semi-retired"...Articles such as this one seem to have the bent of always looking at what makes the wealthy pity the middle class and foists it onto the middle class...My boss takes a vacation every year, has multiple cars and several rent houses, and doesn't shop at Walmart or Target, but he is closer to this article's picture than we are...(did I mention that his a flaming liberal, and I'm a compassionate conservative)..
Dec 7, 2012 6:52PM
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Well, I meet the minimum requirements, I guess. I have a stable job, and hubby and I have a combined income of $50,000 pre-tax.

 

We take a vacation once a year (Usually Orlando since we live in So. Flo. but we'll take car trips other places.) and we have a Roth IRA. (There's not much in it, though.)

We JUST bought health insurance last month (not through our employer, who doesn't pay for anything, and that would cost us an arm and a leg. I have a friend who's a broker and he got us a good package.).

 

I don't own a home, though I inherited my grandmother's house, and her mortgage. I don't live there. My father does, and we rent an apartment.

 

I hate shopping at Target. I usually shop at Sam's because we're trying to save money so we can finish paying off our debt ($6,000 to go!).

 

I'm a fairly conservative Republican, though I don't vote party lines and will elect whomever I think can best do the job.

 

I have NO intentions of having a college fund for any of my kids. I had to work my way through school. So will they. I didn't get a free ride, and they aren't getting one either. If they want an education, they have to have the drive and ambition to get it themselves.

Dec 7, 2012 6:50PM
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Most of the people in the U.S.A are middle class. Some people are just jerks like the one who wrote this article. and the people WHO published it
Dec 7, 2012 6:47PM
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according to some of MSN's statistics I'm classified as middle class, but I sure as hell don't think I am. with the way the economy is, sometimes it's even too expensive to shop for certain things even at Walmart now these days
Dec 7, 2012 6:41PM
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Who makes up this crap?? is this "the new normal"?

and are those who make more that 250k only 2% of the population of wage erners? i dont think so.

 

You know you'll soon be middle class if you have money now. obama is going to tax you into middle class.

Dec 7, 2012 6:41PM
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You know you're middle class if ... you have to sit in traffic every day, sucking fumes from the car in front of you, so that you can get back and forth to a job you hate and brown bagging it with no Twinkies for dessert.

Dec 7, 2012 6:39PM
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I was upper middle class until I retired and with Obama not letting me get any money out of the market I am now under class. But my house is paid for, my 3 cars are paid for  my kids have finished college. I shop at both Target and Nordstroms. So what does that make me.
Dec 7, 2012 6:35PM
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WOW....MIDDLE CLASS HERE...BARELY.....BUT  I ALWAYS VOTE REPULICAN. 

WHOEVER IS ABLE TO RAISE A FAMILY, BUY A HOME, AND SURVIVE IN THIS WORLD

AND STILL SAVES $48,000 FOR EACH OF THEIR CHILDREN'S COLLEGE EDUCATION

NEEDS TO WRITE A BOOK TELLING THE REST OF US HOW TO DO IT.  I DON'T KNOW

WHO WRITES THIS STUFF OR WHERE THEY GET THE INFORMATION BUT IT DOESN'T

MATCH UP WITH MOST PEOPLE THAT I KNOW. 

Dec 7, 2012 6:34PM
Dec 7, 2012 6:29PM
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Wow...I just realized how poor I really am!  Lol...how depressing.  Oh well...thank you Obama. :o)
Dec 7, 2012 5:54PM
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My former husband, who is well on his way to his first billion, shops for all of his clothing including their inexpensive shoes, at WalMart.  I don't think you can judge people as middle class if they shop at these stores.  I try to buy all of my groceries at WalMart because the selection is extremely good and the prices are at least one third less than a regular grocery store.  Why spend money we don't have to spend.  I recently purchased six beautiful sweaters, different colors, at WalMart for thirteen dollars each.  This may sound odd but I said a little prayer of thanks and ask God to please watch over the little hands from foreign countries and the slave shops that may have helped make whatever I purchase in goods other than groceries.  That goes for all businesses who buy from these countries.  Another store is Pier 1.  What does the term Middle Class matter.
Dec 7, 2012 5:43PM
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This article is a bunch of BULL hockey.

All the people of this country are different and if you don't fall in such guide lines are considered different. I don't think so.

I think the numbers are skewed....$75k for a house in the suburbs? Suburbs of what major city? Not when I was shopping around there wasn't and that wasn't that long ago even with all the foreclosures. The writer is high. I think a family has to make at least $100k a year to live and keep up with the Jones-es.
Dec 7, 2012 5:42PM
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I AM A AMERICAN WHITE MAN THAT'S ALL I AM. I'M NOT IN A CLASS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NORTH VERNON , IN.

Dec 7, 2012 5:38PM
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No surprise here, those classifying others as being too stupid to write an article or sugest what is what can't use proper English or spell what they do write.

Dec 7, 2012 5:38PM
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if you don't feel rich but you don't feel poor, you are middle class.



Dec 7, 2012 5:36PM
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What about percent of income per year given away to help others....I think this is an important question?
Dec 7, 2012 5:34PM
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And get ready for taxes to go up.. before I lost my job a year ago, my best year was 28k. Now, that bracket is going to pay ANOTHER $1200 in income tax....funny how that was just about what I was able to save per year.

And that 48k saved per kid??? What a joke. NO ONE can afford that, certainly not in my "middle" class world.... or  did I qualify as povery?

Dec 7, 2012 5:33PM
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If you are shopping Wal-Mart you are below middle class. The good news for you WAL-Mart shoppers is that the U.S. has become a Wal-Mart nation.  We don't believe in retail as in giving a merchant a profit. We want everything at cost or below cost. Of course Wal-Mart makes big profits, your just buying junk. Congratulation and welcome to 1960's Russia.
Dec 7, 2012 5:33PM
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If a family has kids of college age and they are paying for college even people up at the high end are gonna be strapped for $.  It's getting to the point that people have had job losses, lost their homes, their savings and retirement have been raided to pay bills and there is a segment of people that attack business so that business is reluctant to hire people. 
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