How Much You Need To Make To Be Middle Class In America

Before we get into the expensive state of middle class America, a few notes on what to expect from The Juice going forward. 

Tomorrow, we will give you a housing update. The numbers on prices will blow your mind. Our outlook — frankly — will likely end up one of the saddest and scariest things we have written in 2024. The post-election story in 2025 will be housing as it morphs from crisis to catastrophe. 

Next week, The Juice will backtest some portfolios to see if you would have been better off in ETFs only, stocks only or a mix of both over the last decade or so. We’ll also discuss growth stocks that pay dividends, using Apple’s (AAPL) history to help illustrate. And we’ll tell you where we stand on the five most-searched stocks in Trackstar (see the bottom of the page), our proprietary database that measures search interest across the platforms of our 100+ financial media partners. 

Looking ahead to 2025 — because, yes, we’re officially in pumpkin spice season — we’re already working on a January series that highlights what The Juice does best. That is, take our larger economic, personal finance and investing themes (think — as examples — housing, cost of living, saving, investing in stocks, ETFs, dividends) and make them relevant to beginners as well as those of you with years of life and market experience.

In January, expect a checklist on what you need to do to be a better investor and saver if you’re just getting started alongside what you might want to do to reassess and update your existing strategies and plans. 

Because it has never been more important to educate the next generation of investors and check on how the last several generations are doing with the squeeze on the middle class tighter than ever. 

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• To be middle class in Minneapolis-St Paul, you need to earn between $61,000 and $183,000 a year. So this means you’re “lower” middle class at 61k and “upper” middle class at 183k. 

We picked Minneapolis to start because, you wouldn’t expect the sweet spot — the middle ground of middle class —in this middle-sized metro to be freaking $122,000. 

Of course, in San Francisco (including Oakland and Berkeley), it’s between $85,000 and $256,000. In Los Angeles (including Long Beach and Anaheim), it’s between $58,000 and $175,000. 

In Atlanta (which includes Sandy Springs and Alpharetta), you’re middle class between $57,000 and $170,000. In Phoenix (along with Mesa and Chandler), the range is $55,000 to $166,000.

These numbers are based on median incomes in each area. You’re middle class if you earn between two-thirds and double the median income in your area. So, nationally, you need to make between $39,619 and $118,856 to be considered middle class. 

The numbers are simply astounding. Especially when you factor the cost of housing into the mix. 

We’ll relate this more to housing tomorrow, but, for now, consider that in the metros with these types of wild middle class ranges, housing prices are typically above — if not well above — the national median. So, instead of around $450,000, we’re talking more like $750,000, if not higher, to get into a decent house in a city full of high earners. 

With the interest rate on a 30-year mortgage at 6.25%, you would need $150,000 (!) if you want to make a 20% down payment (which the bank might very well require) ahead of monthly payments, inclusive of taxes and insurance, of $4,694. 

To spend no more than 30% of your income on this payment, you need to earn $15,646 a month, or $187,752 a year. 

Drop it down to a house that only costs $500,000 and your payment is $3,130, which requires $125,196 annually. 

Of course, if you’re a two-income household, the incomes, before being combined, are more modest. But if you each have a car, maybe a kid or two, other obligations and a life, your six figure salary doesn’t go very far at all these days. Plus, there’s a good chance you’ll have to work day in and day out just to afford the mortgage payment. 

How is any of this even sustainable? 

Nobody seems to be asking this question. And, as is the deeper look we’ll take at housing in tomorrow’s Juice, this is super scary. 

The Bottom Line: You might recall when earning $100,000 — six figures, baby! — was the goal. A huge achievement. The holy grail. 

Now, it’s barely middle class across much of the country. 

Imagine making minimum wage or even considerably more at an hourly job (or even salary) without employee-sponsored and paid health insurance. How are you supposed to make ends meet and have a good, relatively low-stress life in the process?

This is the type of stuff that keeps The Juice up at night, not as much as when we think of ourselves, but when we think of our kids. 

Where’s everybody else on this? We assume you’re with us in thinking this is alarming and certainly not sustainable.

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