This isn’t really new. Developed areas have been hesitant to build new homes for decades at this point, and the high income earnings of densely populated areas means that the average gets moved.
It **could** be alleviated by converting commercial properties into residential ones, but companies don’t want to eat the loss on margins, so that’s a non-started unless they get compensated.
The methodology used by the article fundamentally misrepresents the middle-class income range defined by the Pew Research Center, resulting in incorrect conclusions. By using Pew’s definition of middle-class income as “two-thirds to double” the median income of an area to identify what they refer to as the “lower-class middle-income range,” the analysis inaccurately narrows the scope of the middle class.
Pew’s definition is explicitly designed to encompass the entire middle class — from its lower to upper bounds — rather than isolating a “lower” segment within it. The 150k would be part of the middle class in the upper bounds not the lower middle class as defined by the terminology. I included their methodology below.
Some basic thinking should have told the author that double the median household income as a salary isn’t going to make you lower middle class.
Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates first used the 2022 American Community Survey to find the 100 largest cities in the US, in terms of total households. Once those cities were isolated GOBankingRates found the median household incomes for all those cities. Then, we found the lower-class middle-income range following the Pew Research Center’s definition of middle-class income as “two-thirds to double” the median income of an area. All data was collected and is up to date as of Jan. 30, 2024.
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This isn’t really new. Developed areas have been hesitant to build new homes for decades at this point, and the high income earnings of densely populated areas means that the average gets moved.
It **could** be alleviated by converting commercial properties into residential ones, but companies don’t want to eat the loss on margins, so that’s a non-started unless they get compensated.
The methodology used by the article fundamentally misrepresents the middle-class income range defined by the Pew Research Center, resulting in incorrect conclusions. By using Pew’s definition of middle-class income as “two-thirds to double” the median income of an area to identify what they refer to as the “lower-class middle-income range,” the analysis inaccurately narrows the scope of the middle class.
Pew’s definition is explicitly designed to encompass the entire middle class — from its lower to upper bounds — rather than isolating a “lower” segment within it. The 150k would be part of the middle class in the upper bounds not the lower middle class as defined by the terminology. I included their methodology below.
Some basic thinking should have told the author that double the median household income as a salary isn’t going to make you lower middle class.
Methodology: For this piece GOBankingRates first used the 2022 American Community Survey to find the 100 largest cities in the US, in terms of total households. Once those cities were isolated GOBankingRates found the median household incomes for all those cities. Then, we found the lower-class middle-income range following the Pew Research Center’s definition of middle-class income as “two-thirds to double” the median income of an area. All data was collected and is up to date as of Jan. 30, 2024.
Is this true for childfree people too?