Political breakdown of economic classes

[Frodo]

here is the new and revised edition of my earlier poll, with the key below plagiarized from another poster:

Upper Class: $200,000 and over

Upper Middle Class: $80,000 to $200,000

Middle Class: $40,000 to $80,000

Lower Middle Class: $15,000 to $40,000

Working (or not) Poor: up to $15,000

[Gabu]

Democrat - Lower Middle Class

[MHS2002]

Republican: Middle Class

[KEmperor]

here is the new and revised edition of my earlier poll, with the key below plagiarized from another poster:

Upper Class: $200,000 and over

Upper Middle Class: $80,000 to $200,000

Middle Class: $40,000 to $80,000

Lower Middle Class: $15,000 to $40,000

Working (or not) Poor: up to $15,000

You realize that these brackets vary widely in different areas of the country, based on cost of living?

[Alcon]

Democrat - Middle class

[Cashcow]

D - Upper Middle

[Frodo]

here is the new and revised edition of my earlier poll, with the key below plagiarized from another poster:

Upper Class: $200,000 and over

Upper Middle Class: $80,000 to $200,000

Middle Class: $40,000 to $80,000

Lower Middle Class: $15,000 to $40,000

Working (or not) Poor: up to $15,000

You realize that these brackets vary widely in different areas of the country, based on cost of living?

duly noted -i understand someone would consider themselves upper middle class in Mississippi but probably middle or lower middle class in New York, but i am not talking about Mississippi or New York -i am referring to the United States as a whole.   and that's what you should measure yourself against when voting in it.  that's why we have a national standard income tax -it creates at least a sense of uniformity -don't you think these differences have been accounted for already in the century and a half the income tax has been in existence?

you can always create your own polls asking people living in the same state as you are what their economic class is if you'd like.  or you could average out the differences between the two disparate states.  whatever.  my focus is national.   

[AuH2O]

$200,000 is not upper class. That's about what my parents make (in a moderate cost of living area), I'd say it's upper middle and sometimes even middle (in NYC or SF, for instance). There are kids at my college that drive new Range Rovers and whose families own planes. That's upper class.

[A18]

Income is irrelevant to wealth, anyway. You could have two billion dollars and make nothing, and I don't think you'd be considered 'lower class.'

[JohnFKennedy]

Income is irrelevant to wealth, anyway. You could have two billion dollars and make nothing, and I don't think you'd be considered 'lower class.'

^^

[opebo]

$200,000 is not upper class. That's about what my parents make (in a moderate cost of living area), I'd say it's upper middle and sometimes even middle (in NYC or SF, for instance). There are kids at my college that drive new Range Rovers and whose families own planes. That's upper class.

I think source of income is important as well.  If you're working for your 200K, you're hardly 'upper class'.  If you're a trust fund baby who's trust only returns $10,000/month, you're upper class.

Anyway I clicked Democrat, upper class.  No one in the family works, the income is well over the limit designated above, and we're from cheapo Missouri.  On the other hand we're no closer to the corridors of power than the average working stiff. 

[bullmoose88]

R-Upper Middle.

Though things are still expensive. I doubt we're middle class, even where I live.

(Revision: Still probably Upper Middle, despite things being expensive. My parents don't buy flashy things, but also don't owe anyone anything)

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

$200,000 is not upper class.

No wonder you're nuts.  As far as I'm concerned, 200k isn't just upper class, its friggin unimaginably rich!

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Republican & Lower middle, but all class here.

[Richard]

R - lower middle

[AuH2O]

$200,000 is not upper class.

No wonder you're nuts.  As far as I'm concerned, 200k isn't just upper class, its friggin unimaginably rich!

Ha. no. Two professionals can get to $200,000 pretty easily-- in my family's case, my mom only works part-time and isn't paid well (despite having an advanced degree in her field). But if you have two full-time workers that are middle age, that's not an unreasonable amount for them combined, depending on where you live.

Probably more people have high incomes than you would think, it's just not always apparent. I don't know but I think one of my roommates has a family income over a million in addition to being worth 20-25, but not knowing better we would look to have the same amount of $$.

[opebo]

$200,000 is not upper class.

No wonder you're nuts.  As far as I'm concerned, 200k isn't just upper class, its friggin unimaginably rich!

Ha. no. Two professionals can get to $200,000 pretty easily-- in my family's case, my mom only works part-time and isn't paid well (despite having an advanced degree in her field). But if you have two full-time workers that are middle age, that's not an unreasonable amount for them combined, depending on where you live.

Probably more people have high incomes than you would think, it's just not always apparent. I don't know but I think one of my roommates has a family income over a million in addition to being worth 20-25, but not knowing better we would look to have the same amount of $$.

Nevertheless, statistically such people are very uncommon.

[Redefeatbush04]

Well I currently don't have a job (but i will by next week). My mom doesn't work. My dad makes......a lot really.

[KEmperor]

$200,000 is not upper class.

No wonder you're nuts.  As far as I'm concerned, 200k isn't just upper class, its friggin unimaginably rich!

Not in New York.  That's upper middle.

[dazzleman]

By your definition I am Republican - upper class.

However, I live in a very expensive area, and I consider my income to be upper middle class for where I live.  In Arkansas, I would be upper class, but here I'm simply upper middle class.  I'm comfortable; I don't have to budget myself too carefully, but I can't afford to stop working for any length of time.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

By your definition I am Republican - upper class.

However, I live in a very expensive area, and I consider my income to be upper middle class for where I live.  In Arkansas, I would be upper class, but here I'm simply upper middle class.  I'm comfortable; I don't have to budget myself too carefully, but I can't afford to stop working for any length of time.

I'm sure where you live is cheap to live compared to SF.

[dazzleman]

By your definition I am Republican - upper class.

However, I live in a very expensive area, and I consider my income to be upper middle class for where I live.  In Arkansas, I would be upper class, but here I'm simply upper middle class.  I'm comfortable; I don't have to budget myself too carefully, but I can't afford to stop working for any length of time.

I'm sure where you live is cheap to live compared to SF.

Not really.  I know SF is very expensive, but so is Fairfield County, CT.

It seems that coastal areas with natural boundaries tend to be the most expensive, because expansion is limited.  Housing in Texas is cheap, because land is flat and plentiful.  In the New York area, there are bodies of water that limit the availability of land within a reasonable distance of the city.  Same thing in California, especially San Francisco, with the bay and and mountains.

California real estate from what I heard has gone way out of whack in terms of price.  I find it a scary trend.  I hate the extreme economic segmentation that these prices bring.  One of the reasons I picked my town 10 years ago was the economic diversity - it had housing for every economic class except the poor.  Now, over time, the lower classes are being pushed out, as the smaller houses are expanded into big houses, and housing becomes ever more expensive.