$150,000 is literally middle class where I live, 10 miles west of NYC. Fortunately my husband is a CFP and our retirement looks solid. Yearly vacations were not a thing here, and we only bought one new vehicle out of necessity (2003 Honda odyssey when our twins were born, the only minivan at the time with 5 shoulder belts).
According to Rutgers University economist James Hughes, "middle class" can mean many things these days. But “somebody earning $60,000 in New Jersey would really be struggling to say they’re in the middle class.”
Hughes pointed out that not too long ago, “middle class meant that you could live a good life and only have one spouse working. Today, to be middle class, it really takes two working spouses.”
He said the amount of income needed in New Jersey to be considered part of the middle class is higher than in most other parts of the nation because of our sky-high housing costs.
“This includes the actual price of housing and the cost of living in the housing: property taxes, insurance and utilities," he said.
He said a family earning $190,000 a year in parts of North Jersey may sound like a small fortune to some, but “housing costs are extraordinarily high the closer you get to New York City."
According to the Pew Analysis, 52 percent of adults in the United States live in middle class households. In North Jersey, 48 percent of households are middle class. And in Central Jersey, 50 percent of families are in the middle income bracket.
Read More: Are you middle class? Depends where you live in NJ |
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