<p>As I said, there is no effective way to do this. Zipcode is too much of a hassle.</p>
<p>I live in nyc with a 30K income. You would think I would be in extreme financial crisis right now, but look at all the immigrants here who work as laborers and get incomes below 20K.</p>
<p>Agro, I live with my dad on a similar income. We have to share a one bedroom apt. (my bed is in the living room), because it's all we could afford in a moderately safe neighborhood. My sister lives in TN, and her rent in a 3 bedroom apt. was (she and her husband just moved on base) $200 a month less than our rent. A 3 bedroom apt. in my area would cost at least $700 a month more than in TN. Let's not start to talk about gas prices...</p>
<p>But you also have to look at job opportunities. The job oppurtunity of a certain area determines its own expenses. </p>
<p>A community where the people have high incomes generally has higher expenses</p>
<p>Nobody sets the living standards or expenses for a particular community. You know why certain communities are so much more expensive to live in? Because the people there can afford it with their incomes. Rich communities sprout out naturally, so if one were to blame somebody for the high price houses in that area, blame the people who live there for their own large incomes. Take away all the big jobs in that community--costs of houses will decrease .</p>
<p>The problem is that people are say they are basing their judgements soley on family income while at the same time judging themselves by what their neigbors have. Lets use my town as an example, median home price of around 450,000, so its absolutely middle class if not even higher. Some people in town have inherited their homes from their parents and make under 50,000. The more average make in the 100,000 - 200,000 range, a comfortable living but not a life of excess. My family makes about 750,000 a year, we do not spend anywhere near what we make and if you looked at us we are just one of the neighbors, but while the house inheritor worries about covering food and medicine we can buy as we see fit. I view middle class as the stage where a family can first escape from a paycheck to paycheck existance and consider things like vacations, extra cars and earlier retirement. Upper middle class is when you reach the level that most expenses, other than cars and housing, no longer greatly impact your ability to put money aside each month. Upper class is when no expense can impact future savings. The classes overlap because a middle class person could easily country club/mercedes/vacation house their way into apparent upper class but they are spending everything they make and saving nothing for a rainy day or the future. Upper class comes when all needs and wants can be met while at the same time preserving financial security</p>
<p>Agro, what you're saying is <em>generally</em> true. The problem is that when you compare median earnings to median home prices, you will see that some places are, indeed, more expensive than others.</p>
<p>My sister lives in Clarksville, TN, where the median income is $3,000 more per household than in Deerfield Beach, FL, where I live. The median income is $3,000 more per family here, than it is in Clarksville. That sounds about even, to me -- unless, of course, you consider that the median home price in Deerfield is $150,000 more.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarksville%2C_TN%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarksville%2C_TN</a> - Income figures for Clarksville
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deerfield_Beach%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deerfield_Beach</a> - Income figures for Deerfield Beach
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/snapshots/42612.html%5B/url%5D">http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/snapshots/42612.html</a> - Home price for Clarksville
<a href="http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/topzipcodes/median.html%5B/url%5D">http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/topzipcodes/median.html</a> - Home price for Deerfield Beach (use ctrl F to search)</p>
<p>"I view middle class as the stage where a family can first escape from
a paycheck to paycheck existance and consider things like vacations, extra cars
and earlier retirement."</p>
<p>I like that definition.</p>
<p>Like that too!</p>
<p>Well, I think that definition of "middle class" might better fit upper middle class. I have always thought of us as middle class--we are over median national income--but we certainly can not think about early retirement, and we have minimal vacations. However, we would be able to take nicer vacations and buy newer cars if we didn't have a kid in college... so maybe that does make some sense. :-)</p>
<p>I think each person probably sees it a bit differently depending upon their circumstances.</p>
<p>How can u be so greedy.My parents earn 100k a year and I consider myself poor oo my gosh how i'm gonna pay for my college.In my country rich are people with 15000$ + plus financial aid for international students sucks and u are screw up ones.Suckers.</p>
<p>It doesn't matter if it is considered middle middle or upper middle either way anyone in that group will recieve hardly any "need based' financial aid</p>
<p>I disagree; my family is well above the median income, and I still recieved a good amount of need-based aid from the schools to which I applied. Columbia is covering almost half of my college expenses. Even if your family makes good money (even over the 100k limit), it is still possible to get need-based aid. It couldn't hurt to apply.</p>
<p>how much financial aid could i get if my mom is out of work... and my dad makes 38000 a year....and i dont work???</p>
<p>just a question cuz i have no idea</p>
<p>at HYP you would get a free ride anyone under $40,000 goes free. Lucky duck :)</p>
<p>what is HYP?</p>
<p>Harvard Yale Princeton</p>
<p>too bad that ill probalby be attending a state school in texas</p>
<p>where did you find out that they give out free rides for that?</p>
<p>referring back to the original post, does the 100,000 mean each parent makes 100,000 or two parents make a sum of 100,000?</p>
<p>I know exactly how you feel- doesnt it suck? Just because our parents have money, doesnt mean we get to see any of it! For example, we have a nice house in TX and an apt by the beach in CA, in addition to 4 cars and 2 kids in college. Yes, I'm swimming in loans too.</p>
<p>littleeviltwin, I understand how crappy it can be when your parents aren't as generous as you would hope. But there are limited funds for students attending school. My dad has no second home to sell to fund my education. If your parents lived like most students getting financial aid live, they would have plenty of money to fund your education.</p>