This doesn’t make any sense at all in terms of defining “middle class.”
1. Most people do not graduate from college. I realize it’s a popular myth that higher education is typical, but it is not. It’s logically absurd to define as “middle class” something that only a minority of people ever attain.
It has little to do with your “class.” If you’re reasonably affluent, save for your retirement, and own your own home, but your kid decides to become a welder, how are you not middle class?
Perhaps most important, it means, by definition, that you can’t be middle class until you’re old. My child is 5, so a college education’s not in the cards for years. So I can’t be middle class for 13 years? Huh?
You have some good points, but what I would say is:
In my experience most middle class people did go to college, and an ever bigger majority of their children do. Of course you are correct that you do not fall from MC status if your kid decides to become a welder. However, you just assume that you kids will go to college. When talking to your kids you would say “when you go to college” rather than “if…” You would set up college funds at an early age. So if you assume that your 5-year old will probably go to college and you are making financial preparations now, I would say that is a middle class activity.
I was raised middle class too. My parents managed 5 of those 6, but of course that’s when healthcare was a much, much smaller percentage of one’s income. Here I am, with a masters’ degree in engineering, owner of my own company - nope, I’m not middle class 'cause I don’t have good healthcare insurance. :dubious:
I thought that was dumb, too. My husband and I have six vehicles on our car insurance - one for each kid, and us.
Hey, I didn’t say I agreed with the article. It didn’t seem to be much better than the “adulthood” one. “Hard work and good luck”…? Yeah right.
I agree, NinetyWT. I can actually poke more holes in this list of “milestones” than the other one.
Home ownership. This assumes that people live in places where home ownership is feasible on a middle-class salary. If I lived in Manhattan, there would be no way I could afford a home. I would have to rent. And since I’d be choosing to live in Manhattan rather than commuting from one of the other boroughs or Jersey, I’m assuming that either 1)I’m poor and living somewhere like East Harlem or Washington Heights, 2) I’m a college kid dorming in Morningside Heights or around NYU, 3) doing quite well for myself, living in a small yet nice apartment somewhere, and making more than enough to qualify as “middle class”, 4) or one of the lucky few that have managed to hold on to a rent-controlled apartment–which means I could be poor, middle-class, or rich.
There are other places in the country where it simply does not make sense for a family making the median US income to buy a home.
On the flip side, people can be house poor. They can inherit a paid-off house from a parent or grandparent, while pulling in a minimum wage salary. And do mobile homes count? I can buy one for $2000 right now. Does that simple purchace change my socioeconomic status?
Car ownership. A person can buy a POS car for close to nothing. I bought my 1993 Ford Mustang for $800 and I have had it for six years. A family of four making $20,000 a year can piece enough money to afford $800. So that really doesn’t mean much.
And again, going back to certain urban centers, it does not make financial sense to own a car, when public transit or your own feet can take you where you pretty much have to go every day.
So that one is a dud too, IMHO.
I already expressed my piece with college education but I’ll say it again. Not every financially comfortable family is going to put their kids through school. That doesn’t mean they aren’t middle-class. It just means they might have a different value system, or their kids don’t want to or can’t go due to disability. Also, is it fair to rate a family who has to put multiple kids through school simultaneously alongside a family who has only one or two kids, separated by some years, to worry about? My parents would have been unable to put both my twin and I through school at the same time without both of them working multiple jobs, even though their income was pretty high when we were filling out the FAFSA paperwork. When my father found out that we’d both been accepted at Cornell, his head practically exploded. So he was relieved when we went to a state school that was practically free.
I agree that having kids at least attending college would be a benchmark of a family being “middle-class”, but that’s about it. (Not to mention, you gotta wait 18years to be considered middle-class? WTH?)
Retirement security is like the college fund thing–that takes years for a person to develop. I just started contributing to my retirement plan three years ago. In thirty years I can say I’ll be secure (hopefully), but right now? Hell no. Who in their early 30s could say they are secure for retirement? No one except someone who is NOT middle-class.
Health care coverage. This is a toughie, given how ruthless the health care industry is. It is possible to be comfortably employeed and be unable to afford health care coverage if you have pre-existing conditions. That’s beyond your control. Now, you might have enough money to go to a doctor and pay out-of-pocket for routine check-ups. That would be “middle-class”, I would think. But simply having insurance–which you’re more likely to have if you’re poor (Medicaide) than if you’re middle-class? I’m not so sure. Hopefully this will change with Obamacare.
Family vacation. OK, I’ll concede this one as long as singleton vacations aren’t excluded. Otherwise, only people with families can be considered “middle-class”, and that would be wrong.
1. Home ownership I will pay off my house in a week or two. 2. Automobile ownership I have 97 Acura that I bought brand new. 3. College education for your kids No kids.
** 4. Retirement security** I am not as secure as I wish to be, but I don’t think I have too many worries.
** 5. Health care coverage** Yes
** 6. Family vacation** No wife, not kids, but I rented a cabin in the mountains for a week in October.
I’d count myself as hitting all six (we don’t have kids, but are easily paying for my wife’s post grad). I think it is a pretty arbitrary set of criteria though, I’d happily sell our condo in Georgia and be renters only here in California, but would still consider myself middle class.
I don’t see that being particularly relevant. Nowhere did I say “graduates with a bachelors degree or better”. You can attend college and graduate with an associates degree or just attend college and take some number of classes. Anyway, here are my guesses:
Bachelors or better: 20%
Associates or some technical certification: 15%
Some college: 20%
My girlfriend owns our appartment. I have an option to marry into it.
No need (NYC thing).
No kids yet.
I have a fair amount saved up but I’m still in my 30s.
Yes
I’m all booked up this year with destination wedings and bachelor parties buy I’ll say that counts.
Our income, education and professions put both of us soundly in “Upper Middle Class”. Since we have chosen NYC urban living, the normal middle class trappings of car/house/other apply differently.
About 20 years ago, Minnesota defined all higher education as “college” - they are now “Technical Colleges.” I’d say middle class is “being able to support your kids in post secondary education” - even if that means tech school because they decide to be a welder or a hair stylist. With younger kids, I’d assume it means saving for it. And if they don’t go, well, that’s a better funded retirement.
Somewhere between 24 and 30%. New Hampshire has one of the highest rates of BA/BS holders, and it’s only in the upper-30s and I don’t recall any state being above 40%, so the over all number must be several points lower.
I had a think. Most of my friends and acquaintances have kids of college age and above. I cannot think of a single one that did not go to college. I know of just one that did just a couple of semesters then dropped out. The others all graduated or are still in college.
I have two kids in college. All of their friends that I know went to college. Every one of them.
From previous threads I know that there are different views as to where the boundaries lie between working class/middle class/rich. However, I believe that there would be little disagreement that the sort of community I live in is middle class, and it is clear that here at least middle class = kids go to college.
Wow. I took a guess at the % of college grads - much lower than I thought!
The % of residents over the age of 25 nationwide who have graduated from a 4-year college = 15.7. In the county I live in, it’s 26.3. High school grads nationwide are only 80%.