How Much Money Does A Middle Class Family Make

J. Money in the middle I keep seeing these factoids around other finance blogs, so I thought I'd join :) I haven't looked through them all yet, but I'm going to guess right now that yes – I am Middle Class. Let's see if I'm wrong though, shall we?

Here are the stats from Free Money Finance, who got them from Yahoo, who got them from US News & World Report (who probably stole them from Santa Claus). Followed by my our personal info. Here we go!

The Middle Class Match Up

Income: For the 50% of families in the middle of the scale, household income ranges from $51,000 to $123,000 for a typical four-person, two-parent family. The median is about $81,000. J$ – Between my full-time gig, side hustles, and the wife's TA position, we fall a little under $100k.
Housing Costs: For two-parent families, the typical home is worth about $231,000, accounting for $17,600 in mortgage payments and other costs per year. J$ – Our house is worth about $300k, and mortgage payments around $24,000
Home Size: The median size of a new, single-family home jumped by 40% between 1979 and 2007, to about 2,300 square feet. J$ – I think our Townhouse is around 1900 sq ft. Although in our area of the country it probably falls closer to the average.
Cars: The typical family spends about $12,400 per year on two medium-sized sedans or the equivalent, with a new-car value of $45,000. J$ – Wow, new car value at $45k? That's a lot of car! And debt…scary that that's the avg for middle class…both our cars total around $12k in value. And we probably spend only a few thousand a year on them (gas, upkeep, etc – they're both paid for)
College Savings: The typical family puts aside $4,100 for college expenses for two kids. J$ – N/A – We don't have kids… yet ;)
Vacations: One week at the beach or another destination is standard, at a cost of $3,000 or so for four. More affluent families can afford two weeks, at a typical cost of $6,100. J$ – We *rarely* spend $3k on a vacation (this year we will for our Eurotrip), but we def. spend $3k on total trips throughout the year – Vegas, Boston, wherever our friends are going and we can stay for free ;)
Retirement Savings: A median-income family that saved 3.2% of its income – roughly equivalent to the national saving rate – socks away nearly $2,600/year for retirement. J$ – I haven't calculated it in a while, but I'm pretty sure we're close to 40% savings. Haha… drastic, much?
Number of Earners: In 76% of two-parent families, both parents work. The higher the household income, the more likely it is that both parents are contributing. J$ – I work full-time, and the wife works part time while in grad school. Before and after school though she's full-time.
Education: The typical household head has a high school degree, plus about 2 years of college education. J$ – I have a Bachelors, and she's getting her Masters this year on her way to P.H.D.
Household Net Worth: The typical household has a net worth of about $84,000, according to the Federal Reserve. J$ – We're at $151k (holler)
Debt: About 18% of disposable income, on average, goes toward mortgage payments, auto loans, credit cards and other forms of household debt. J$ – We def. don't spend anything on loans, but our % of mortgage vs income was high the last time I checked. Around 30% maybe?

Pretty interesting to see these comparisons. From the looks of it we're def. middle class. Not that it really matters much to be honest. Who cares if we're lower, higher, or just plain ballin'? Only OURSELVES ;) If you can get to a point in your lives where you are happy with your situation, and confident, you are on the right track. Money is great, but it's only a piece of the puzzle.

How do you all compare?

Jay loves talking about money, collecting coins, blasting hip-hop, and hanging out with his three beautiful boys. You can check out all of his online projects at jmoney.biz. Thanks for reading the blog!

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