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Comment by ImprovedSilence | Hacker News Reader

it might be enough to make a 22 yr old in Mississippi upper class, but in no sense of the word is 100k upper class. Especially if you've got a family. I'd say upper class starts where you have enough money to live off the interest. Drs, lawyers, etc are upper middle. And industrial wage earners and most fresh college grads are lower middle. 100-200k earners would be middle middle. Aristocracy isn't really much of a thing. Yeah, there's plenty of "old money", but that falls into the upper class category. As stated in another comment, in the US, it's really the size of you bank account, not your name, or your accent, or where your from, or what school you went to, or what "estate" you live in that matters.

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>100-200k earners would be middle middle?

100-200k for households puts you in the top 10%. Individuals, maybe top 5%. How is that not upper class!?

I wish I was even low middle according to your scale...

For reference:

  Income in 1999

  Households..................................105,539,122 100.0
  Less than $10,000............................10,067,027   9.5
  $10,000 to $14,999............................6,657,228   6.3
  $15,000 to $24,999...........................13,536,965  12.8
  $25,000 to $34,999...........................13,519,242  12.8
  $35,000 to $49,999...........................17,446,272  16.5
  $50,000 to $74,999...........................20,540,604  19.5
  $75,000 to $99,999...........................10,799,245  10.2
  $100,000 to $149,999..........................8,147,826   7.7
  $150,000 to $199,999..........................2,322,038   2.2
  $200,000 or more............................. 2,502,675   2.4

  Median family income (dollars)..................50,046
  Per capita income (dollars).....................21,587

  Median earnings (dollars):
  Male full-time, year-round workers..............37,057
  Female full-time, year-round workers............27,194

http://censtats.census.gov/data/US/01000.pdf

Unless you live in a city, I'd put lower-middle somewhere around 45k-90k per household. The kind of range where buying and maintaining one or two slightly used cars isn't a big deal, and the idea of choosing between rent and groceries is alien.

Middle-middle probably kicks in when buying a nice new car every few years isn't a big deal, and your kids all have college funds started.

Upper-middle kicks in when buying a nice german car every few years is assumed, and you plan on paying your kids college tuition without much thought.

If you work for a living, you aren't upper class.

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