The 40th percentile income in the US is $43.3k [0], with 126 million households [1], that comes out to about 50 million households that make less than $44k.

To put my feelings bluntly, get out of your bubble.

[0] https://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Household-Income [1] https://www.google.com/search?q=us+number+of+households