Upper Middle Class Income in your area?

[JeffKeryk]

I have no idea what upper middle class is around here. I live in a tiny 1200.square foot home.
But it's home. Sue and I love it here; I ain't going nowhere.
All good.

 

[IndyIan]

I think what I've learned working from home recently is that having a job or business where you're not stuck in a 9-5 schedule for 40hrs a week is worth quite a bit. Also if you are in a financial situation where only one spouse needs to work, that's also worth something too. Actual income is a measure of wealth but also meeting your financial goals with lots of spare time is nice too! Here at the moment to afford a nice house and new cars and a cottage you've got to be $300k+ as the mortgage on 1.5mil of house and cottage is up there.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

Middle class I would say 120-150k household income, house value about 1.2 - 1.4M. Upper middle class probably more like 200-250k, house value more like 2M+

 

[PandaBear]

I think what I've learned working from home recently is that having a job or business where you're not stuck in a 9-5 schedule for 40hrs a week is worth quite a bit. Also if you are in a financial situation where only one spouse needs to work, that's also worth something too. Actual income is a measure of wealth but also meeting your financial goals with lots of spare time is nice too! Here at the moment to afford a nice house and new cars and a cottage you've got to be $300k+ as the mortgage on 1.5mil of house and cottage is up there.

Around here if you have a housewife and only 2 kids in a good school district, you are upper middle class.

 

[IndyIan]

Around here if you have a housewife and only 2 kids in a good school district, you are upper middle class.

Yeah, IMO the school district funding system is pretty sad in most states, almost as bad as the caste system in India. Kids can't choose their parents so why penalize those kids even more with underfunded schools?
Here fortunately, every school district gets the same dollars per kid from the province so the schools are pretty equal. There is still lots of ways wealthy people can enhance the school experience for their kids, but atleast all the schools teachers are all paid the same decent wage. And there's always private schools if you have the bucks for that.

 

[bbhero]

My area average household income is around $73,000... If you are above 100k household income then that is the lower end of upper middle class. Anyone above $200,000+ is upper class and living in Ford's Colony or Governor's Land or Holly Hills.

Upper super wealthy which so many people hate..... Buy an estate in Charles City county for sale at $59,995,000.... Or buy the Mar's estate for $25,000,000 in Gloucester county.

 

[Killer223]

In Silicon Valley, there are 2 major groups...
Those who got into property when it was $500K or less and those who did not.
Google's average salary is north of $250K; Facebook is about the same.

Purchased my house in Campbell for 235K. in 99

 

[PandaBear]

Yeah, IMO the school district funding system is pretty sad in most states, almost as bad as the caste system in India. Kids can't choose their parents so why penalize those kids even more with underfunded schools?
Here fortunately, every school district gets the same dollars per kid from the province so the schools are pretty equal. There is still lots of ways wealthy people can enhance the school experience for their kids, but atleast all the schools teachers are all paid the same decent wage. And there's always private schools if you have the bucks for that.

In my city, we have the same funding per kid from school district that has rating of 3 to 10. It really has a lot to do with parenting and the resources parents spend outside of home, like tutoring and stay at home mom, family who keep the kids away from bad influences, etc.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Purchased my house in Campbell for 235K. in 99

You've done well. Very well.
I used to live by downtown Campbell. Now we are in Los Gatos (mid 90's) by the golf course, not far from you.
We also have a condo in Campbell, near Latimer and San Tomas Aquino.

I love Campbell; I prefer downtown over LG downtown.
I got my head cracked more than once at the Bodega...

 

[ARCOgraphite]

I have no Jay Oh Bee, no paycheck just investments. That must mean I have no class.

invite vos non populus a confusa suppositione generationis et vehementer angebat

 

[Badgerstate]

In your area, what annual household income is needed to be considered “upper middle class?”

I know this number will vary significantly by area and housing prices are largely responsible for this variable. So, feel free to add additional info that will bring some context to the number.

Id say that upper middle class here in Columbus, OH is around 250K. Its not at all uncommon to see people liking in half million dollar homes and both parents driving fairly new SUVs.

 

[supton]

Middle class I would say 120-150k household income, house value about 1.2 - 1.4M. Upper middle class probably more like 200-250k, house value more like 2M+

That strikes me as odd—10x income for house value?

there was a report in 2016 that said median house to median income (in the USA) was 5x in 2015, as compared to something like 2.2x in 1950.

 

[PandaBear]

That strikes me as odd—10x income for house value?

there was a report in 2016 that said median house to median income (in the USA) was 5x in 2015, as compared to something like 2.2x in 1950.

It is not a linear increase as your income increase and cost of living increase. You can only eat so much and burn so much gas, use so much electricity, buy so many iPhones, etc so the increase in cost of living mainly goes into rent and mortgage, which amplify into home price increase.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

That strikes me as odd—10x income for house value?

there was a report in 2016 that said median house to median income (in the USA) was 5x in 2015, as compared to something like 2.2x in 1950.

House prices here are pretty nuts compared to wages. Almost no first time buyers are buying detached houses, unless they have a lot of family help. Need to start with condo/townhouse and work your way up.

 

[Quattro Pete]

That strikes me as odd—10x income for house value?

I think it's called living beyond your means.

 

[supton]

It is not a linear increase as your income increase and cost of living increase. You can only eat so much and burn so much gas, use so much electricity, buy so many iPhones, etc so the increase in cost of living mainly goes into rent and mortgage, which amplify into home price increase.

I can see that, to a degree, but yeepers I can’t imagine paying that much, not without being rich in the first place. I’d rather have those other things, once past a certain point.

House prices here are pretty nuts compared to wages. Almost no first time buyers are buying detached houses, unless they have a lot of family help. Need to start with condo/townhouse and work your way up.

certainly sounds nuts to me!

 

[Dave Hess]

My nephew recently bought a house and if his dad (my brother) didn’t help out with $$$ there’s no way he could afford it because there was a bidding war on this property.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

I think it's called living beyond your means.

Nobody has 10x mortgage, you wouldn't qualify. But maybe 5-6x, you probably would. Typically you can qualify up to 40% of your gross income as a mortgage payment, and the bank use rates that are 2% higher than current to calculate.

A lot of detached homes also have rental units/suites.

 

[Wolf359]

That strikes me as odd—10x income for house value?

there was a report in 2016 that said median house to median income (in the USA) was 5x in 2015, as compared to something like 2.2x in 1950.

It is odd, typically more like 3x, but with low interest rates maybe a little higher. I don't think the DTI works even at 3% on a 30 year. If you had 20% for a down payment on 2 million dollar home, a 1.6 million mortgage at 3% over 30 years work out to $6745 a month. PITI usually shouldn't be more than 33-38% and that $6745 doesn't include taxes or insurance. So if we use 3x of that, it's at least 242k a year. Also keep in mind higher income also comes with higher taxes.

 

[JHZR2]

Lots of great responses. As discussed, the definitions are variable and the figures are highly dependent on the size of the family. To an extent, it also depends on your financial goals.

MC around here is probably $250k/yr for a family of 3-4. UMC has to be at least $400K.

Average house is about $1M for a 2-2500 sq ft with 1.3%/yr in property tax.

What is the “official” median for a family there?

That's the hard part. The data always looks much lower than what reality can be just looking at simple math to make ends meet.