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If you’ve ever sat by yourself, looked around your overpriced flat in an area of Los Angeles that isn’t nearly as cool — or as stabbing free — as the realtor assured you, or your drafty shoebox apartment in New York City that an Albanian immigrant prostitute was murdered in 90 years ago, or your totally average place in Portland or Austin that has increased its rent one-thousand percent in the last decade, and wondered, “With the money I make right now, could I be a mogul in Cleveland? Or a full on actual feudal lord with real serfs and a loyal regiment of knights in Detroit?” then allow me to direct you to this NPR graph and also answer, “Yes, probably” to both of those hypothetical questions.
NPR has put together a little chart that asks, “What Is Middle Class?” The answers, which are charted city by city, are as varying as they are surprising.
Not to keep ragging on Detroit, but sweet Jesus Detroit! $12,000 a year qualifies as middle class!? The Thunderdome city from Mad Max has a higher cost of living! It would cost George Lucas more to rebuild your city with CGI than it would to just actually rebuild it.
I won’t lie, this list made me feel pretty good about myself, because I am a shallow, hollow man who craves material affirmation. It’s a douche thing to say, but I would be upper or upper-middle class in most of these cities, and these figures are based on family incomes. I have the income I have and all without the burden of anyone who loves me! SCORE!
My guess is that Austin, the city I live in currently but which isn’t on the list, is probably most similar to Nashville, Denver, Portland, or Dallas. Also, it looks like I would be quite the catch in my hometown of St. Louis (which I already knew because, based on the amount of matches I get, my Tinder appeal is ten times stronger back home — living in a handsome city is for idiots).
So where do you fall, class-wise, in the different cities? Does it make you regret living where you live now? Or would being LeBron James’ best friend by virtue of being one of the ten richest people in Cleveland be too annoying to be worth it?
[via NPR]
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Rob Fox
Rob Fox is a Senior Writer for Total Frat Move (as Bacon), Rowdy Gentleman, and Post Grad Problems. He is a graduate, without honors, from the University of Missouri. From St. Louis originally, he currently lives in Austin, Texas, and still has not admitted to his family what he does for a living. He is also prone to having wet nightmares ever since losing his virginity in a haunted house. Email: rob@grandex.co
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Poor. Poor everywhere.
So NPR is trying to say that if you and your spouse each pull down a decent post-grad salary you are upper class in most cities. Next I suppose they’ll say we’re not paying our fair share of taxes – seeing as how rich we are and everything.
Minimum wage at $7.25, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year is $15,080 annually. Multiply x 2 as a family income is $30,160. Blows my mind that fast food workers go on strike for higher pay.
I mean, that puts them below the 25% mark for the national average and above that same mark in only about half of these cities and the median in only 2 of them. $7.25/hr is not a livable wage, but $15/hr is over the top. A national minimum wage of $15/hr, like some of these people are campaigning for, is a stupid idea. This chart proves that. But there should be some sort increase, especially in these cities w/higher costs of living.
It’s also not meant to be a wage to support a family on. It’s supposed to be a wage for a job to gain experience. Better than no pay internships.
I understand that and mostly agree, but the wage gap between college educated workers and those without a degree has grown by about 50% since the 1970s. Some inequality is healthy for an economy, but not that much.
It’s called “minimum” wage for a reason. It’s a wage to scrape by. Not buy new cars, iPhones for the whole family, be able to go out to eat once a week at Applebee’s. Those are things the middle class has sanctioned and for good reason. If the minimum wage workers were able to live like that, they would be living on the same platform as college graduates in the real middle class that have to pay for everything on their own. Minimum wage should be adjusted for inflation every decade or so but these products that welfare queens own is absolutely sickening. You are not entitled to an iPhone because you work at McDonald’s — you can only afford a pre-loaded phone.
My point was getting around to that if two people simply work a full week at minimum wage and can meet half the cities median… then what the hell are the people doing to pull this number down?
PG Drew, no disrespect man, I like where you’re going with this actually, but you’re leaving out one big factor: kids.
I’m assuming if you and your spouse work at a fast food restaurant, you probably have a bunch of kids as well (and probably had them at a young age I’d imagine).
ehhh just another graph. I can say this, I live in Jacksonville, FL and me and my fiance (no kids) combined make more then the median amount and we cant even think of buying a house. I have no idea how anyone think a family can live off $57k. We can barely afford to do anything for ourselves after student loans, rent, bills, insurance, ect.
Good news is yesterday I found out that I qualify for very-low-income-housing. Bad news is I’m in Silicon Valley so I could probably apply to and finish med school before I get to the top of a waitlist
I’m a St. Louis girl as well and according to this graph I make somewhere between the 25% and median, but I feel pretty rich tbh. I also don’t have a spouse, kids, or student loan payments though.
Shhh… SHHHHHH!
2013……
Being in the bottom even in Detroit. PGP.