The Washington Monthly

September 19, 2003

RICH AND POOR....I'm curious about something: is there any kind of rough consensus about what income it takes to reasonably label someone as "rich" or "poor" or "middle class"? Here are some top-of-the-head household income cutoffs just to trigger discussion:

Poor: $0-$15,000
Working poor: $15,000 - $25,000
Lower middle class: $25,000 - $35,000
Middle class: $35,000 - $65,000
Upper middle class: $65,000 - $90,000
Well off: $90,000 - $150,000
Very well off: $150,000 - $350,000
Rich: $350,000+

Obviously this doesn't take into account size of family, region, type of income, etc. etc. Nor are these technical definitions. I'm just looking for the most general kind of consensus about what's in people's heads when these words are used.

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—Kevin Drum 4:22 PM Permalink | Trackbacks

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