Reply #72: Personally I define it as the class which cannot save. [View All]

After food, rent on an apartment or mortgage on a basic starter home, utilities and other expenses, there is nothing lest to set aside, and usually no pension plan. Not poor enough to get benefits, but struggling nonetheless. One catastrophic illness away from the street.

I don't think your friend is really working class or has any comprehension of what it's like to be working class.

He sounds firmly ensconced in the middle class. Nothing wrong with that, but he's still middle class.


These definitions are always going to be subjective and debateable. I hear people say that families with $100K incomes are "middle class". Never mind that they fall in the top 20% of income earners. People who make over $200K are in the top 5%, but some of them even have the nerve to call themselves "middle class".

To me, a person must have income and assets more or less in line with those of the majority of Americans to be middle class...