Hello, killerhippo (love that screen name)!
The United States government has defined poverty guidelines, but does
not have an official definition of "middle class."
"Q: What is the income of the "middle class"?
A: The Census Bureau does not have an official definition of "middle
class." We do, however, derive several measures related to the
distribution of income and income inequality. You may access more
information on income inequality (middle class) at
http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/midclass/midclsan.html
or general income distributions through our detailed income
tabulations at
http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/dinctabs.html ."
U.S. Census
http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/incfaq.html
United States Census demographic data includes household income. Here
you will find US Census data on median family income (in 2001
inflation-adjusted dollars):
U.S. Census
http://www.census.gov/acs/www/Products/Ranking/SS01/R14T040.htm
As you can see, the median family income for the US is $50,844. For
the District of Columbia, the median family income is $47,081.
More detailed data from D.C. can be found in this pdf file:
U.S. Census
http://censtats.census.gov/data/DC/04011.pdf
===============================================
In the United States we like to maintain the pretense of having a
classless society. The wealthy sometimes feel a bit uneasy about their
superior economic status, and one result of this is that most
Americans describe themselves as "middle class." Oddly, the richer we
are, the more likely we are to consider ourselves "middle class."
Consider these interesting statistics from PBS's website:
"Definition of middle class in terms of income: $ 32,653 to $ 48,979
(Economy.Com's The Dismal Scientist, 1999)...
Median Income by type of household:
Family households (all): $49,940
Married couple families: $56,827
Female householder, no husband present: $26,164
Male householder, no wife present: $41,838
(U.S. Census Bureau, 1999)
36 % of those earning $15,000 a year call themselves middle class.
49 % of those with incomes between $ 35,000 and $ 49,999 call
themselves middle class
71 % of those with incomes above $ 75,000 call themselves middle class
(National Center for Opinion Research, 2000)"
PBS
http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/resources/stats.html
===============================================
The next time your friend whose household income is in the $150,000
range calls himself "middle class," you might want to point him toward
this article:
"While the government has a definition for being poor (in 1999 it was
income of less than $17,029 for a family of four), it does not have a
definition for being middle-class. However, the U.S. Census Bureau
does keep statistics on household income distribution--right now the
median is $40,816, an historic high--which allows economists to come
up with their own definitions of middle-class. One formula is to find
a range between about the 30th percentile of income and the
80th--which would make those households earning between about $30,000
and $75,000 a year middle-class. Others, with a flusher view of
things, say that the formula should be about three times the poverty
rate for the low end and seven times the poverty rate for the high
end, putting households with between $50,000 and $120,000 of yearly
income (at $120,000 many tax credits start to phase out) into the
middle class... In 1999 about 12 percent of households had income of
more than $100,000 a year, the sixth consecutive increase. But being
middle-class is more a state of mind than money. When surveyed, about
90 percent of Americans say that's what they are."
MSN Slate: Are You Middle-Class?
http://slate.msn.com/id/1006340/
===============================================
Here are some more good articles about the definition of "middle
class":
University of Alabama Center for Business and Economic Research
http://cber.cba.ua.edu/rbriefs/middle2.html
Miami Dade Community College
http://www.mdcc.edu/users/jmcnair/Joe23pages/Defining%20Middle%20Class.htm
World Paper
http://www.worldpaper.com/Archivewp/1999/August99/westell.html
Fairfield University Faculty Home Pages
http://www.faculty.fairfield.edu/faculty/hodgson/RussiaDiversity/Ameristat/MIddleClass/MiddleClass.html
===============================================
Search terms used:
"definition of middle class"
"median family income"
"us census" + "income"
===============================================
Thanks for asking a question that was quite interesting to research.
If anything I've said is unclear or incomplete, if you need more
statistics, or if a link does not function, please request
clarification before rating my answer; I'll be glad to offer further
assistance as needed.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |
Clarification of Answer by
pinkfreud-ga
on
13 Apr 2003 08:57 PDT
According to US Census data, your friend's household income of
$150,000 puts him in the top 8% of District of Columbia residents
(3.3% of DC residents have household incomes of $150,000 to $199,999,
and 4.7% have household incomes of $200,000 or more.)
http://censtats.census.gov/data/DC/04011.pdf
I would certainly consider an income that falls in the upper 8% to be
upper class. Logically, one would expect that an income within the
upper one-third should be upper class, if income levels are divided
into three classes (lower, middle, and upper.) If your friend lived on
the 92nd floor of a 100-story high-rise condominium, would he describe
his dwelling as being in the middle of the building?
When we consider the census data for "families" rather than
"households," an income of $150,000 in DC is still in the top 11.5%
(4.5% of DC residents have household incomes of $150,000 to $199,999,
and 7.0% have household incomes of $200,000 or more.) This, too, seems
to me to be comfortably within the upper class.
As a former civil servant, I can tell you that the US government
rarely uses the term "upper class," and has never, to my knowledge,
quantified it. This is one reason there was so much debate about
Bush's tax cuts, which Bush said were aimed at the middle class, but
which some said would mainly benefit the upper class. Since no
hard-and-fast official defininitions of middle class and upper class
exist, the issue was wide open for political squabbling.
~Pink
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