New Jersey is probably the only state where the entire populace is living in the metro area of two of the largest metropolitans areas in the country: New York and Philadelphia. The entire state is part of a huge overlapping metropolitan area, and North Jersey is becoming a metropolitan area in its own right.
That number is not that surprising when you think of it that way. Every citizen in the state has the ability to commute and work in a major metropolitan area.
Yes, yes I am.
The other mistake people make is to confuse income with wealth. There are plenty of people with six figure incomes that have a negative net worth and live paycheck to paycheck and juggle credit cards. And if they lose their job, they’re screwed. Such people can’t be considered rich, because even though they are in the top 5% income range their lifestyle is unsustainable and they are living on borrowed financial time.
When it comes to beer, you’re definitely the upper crust, my friend. 
True enough.
I reckon your username is Upper Class!
Well, Mrs. Homie and I make within a few dollars of the median family income for Sangamon County, Illinois. But then again, Sangamon County, Illinois is a different matter from, say, Wessex County, New York.
We’re definitely upper lower class, no doubt about it. We live in a trailer, fer Pete’s sake!
What the heck is “wallah”?
Right now I’m middle class, but a few years ago, I was fucking poor. I mean, “shall we buy medicine or food this week because we can’t afford both.” (We also had no health insurance. Most low-end jobs either don’t offer health insurance or offer it at such high prices that it absorbs most of your salary.)
It sucked. It absolutely sucked. Middle class is heaven compared to being poor, and it sucks, too, in many respects.
I have participated in several threads where various posters have admitted to being wealthy, in the sense of having lots more income than they needed to get by. And by get by they meant nice house, vacations, cars, no need to work, etc., not “week’s worth of ramen noodles and a block of frozen squid.”
Voilà?
French expressions are reserved for the upper class… 
I figure if you still budget, you’re middle class no matter how much you make. So I am middle class, and my kids are rich.
Regards,
Shodan
How the hell does one get from that to “wallah”, which sounds vaguely Indian?
Removing the V from the front?
I’m the kind of trash middle class people don’t trust in their houses.
Over here the Baby Bonus (a 5k incentive/subsidy given to people who have a baby) will start to be means-tested and will no longer be given to households earning over 150k. It’s sparked some discussion about middle class welfare and whether 150k means you’re rich or “doing it tough every day” like one such family claimed.
The median income is somewhere around 60k and the average house is around 400k. A household income of 150k puts you squarely in the middle class here. To live an upper-middle class lifestyle (kids in private school, house in a blue chip suburb, European cars, holiday house, overseas vacations) easily requires an income of 400k+. You’re probably moving from upper-middle class to just plain rich when your million dollar plus house (and you’d be surprised how little that buys you in some suburbs) doesn’t make up the bulk of your net worth.
I also found these US figures interesting:
In income, some years we’re upper class, but we sure as hell don’t have all kinds of extra money floating around. My husband works in commission sales which makes his income vary, and I don’t work. My husband’s alma mater (which he and his sister both attended) costs somewhere in the neighbourhood of $17,000 per year. When we can send our kids to St. Paul’s, then I’ll consider us rich.
Those not upper class spell it " viola ".
Grew up lower class most of my life (with a single mom occasionally on welfare and donations). The first 10 years of my adult life were either as a starving student, or a starving temp worker.
I’ve since clawed my way into white collar professional and would consider myself lower-middle to middle-middle (own a house and car, but not much room for luxuries, have to scrimp and save if I want a vacation anywhere).
Heh, those figures are quite interesting. Shocking how low the median net worth figures are.
Equally shocking, as in unrealistic, the savings goals of formulas generated by the linked site.
This assumes you save 10% of your current pretax income for each and every year of your life - a nonsense goal, especially for younger professionals earning a high wage … as they haven’t been earning it very long.