As US lawmakers hit the campaign trail to stump for re-election this fall, they all attempted to appeal to the American middle class. Yet the one thing that remained unclear was: who exactly is in the American middle class?
Hoping to hear straight from the source, the Guardian asked its readers to tell us what class they believed they belonged to and why. Over 360 answers poured in.
The general theme: downward economic mobility is real, and it’s a constant risk.
It seems that the only thing keeping many Americans out of poverty is a weekly paycheck. Rather than opting to describe themselves as poor, an increasing number of Americans describe themselves as lower middle class. According to Pew Research Center, that number has reached 40% in 2014. Lower middle class, or working class, is also a label that over 100 of our readers chose to describe themselves.
Dependent on their weekly paychecks, those who define themselves as working class struggle to pay off loans, save for retirement, buy homes or go on vacation. Some of our readers don’t go out. Others wear the same clothes over and over. Doctors’ appointments get postponed and cancelled until the situation becomes critical. The extra expenses of co-pays, prescriptions or car repairs are too much of a strain on their budgets.
Some readers have given up on the idea of paying off their student loans as interest continues to accumulate. Others, haunted by little to no savings for retirement, admit that they will have to work until they are physically incapable of doing so.
The safety net of savings, of a rainy-day fund, of a chance at retirement is what separates those who view themselves as lower middle class and those who believe they are solidly in the middle class.
Here, in their own words, 13 readers describe their financial situation and class.
Annette, Detroit, Michigan
- Income: $0 – $20,000
- Household: 1
- Debt: Student loans
- Class: Lower middle
I lost a pretty-good-paying job back in 2009, and with the job market and economy being much leaner, I’ve yet to return to the financial level I enjoyed previously. Case in point: I make less now than what I did in 1995.
Victoria, 28, Blacksburg, Virginia
- Income: $0 - $20,000
- Household: 1
- Debt: Student loans
- Class: Middle class
Although I don’t have any money, I consider myself middle class for two reasons.
First, I have a low income because I’m working on a master’s degree. When I graduate, I expect to get a good job and quickly improve my financial situation.
Second, even if I never earn a good income, I will always consider myself middle class because my parents are middle class. I spent my entire childhood in a house my parents owned; I never had to worry about having enough food, clothing or school supplies. For the rest of my life, I’ll continue to reap the health benefits of growing up in such a secure, stress-free environment.
Sally, 60, Topeka, Kansas
- Income: $20,000 – $50,000
- Household: 2
- Debt: Credit card
- Class: Poor
Although I still have a home and a job, and my husband receives social security, we are unable to eat in a healthy way. Buying necessary glasses for myself recently was a real strain on our budget. We can’t afford any recreational activities. I wear the same five things over and over to work. I only go to the doctor when I’m really sick, because the co-payments are high. It’s a luxury. I don’t go to a dentist. Can’t even make minor repairs on our home. We are one small mishap from being homeless.
Miles, 38, Greenwell Springs, Louisiana
- Income: $20,000 - $50,000
- Household: 3
- Debt: Mortgage, credit card
- Class: Lower middle
We used to be solid middle class, but then inflation increased and my salary didn’t. Now we are considered poor/lower middle class. It’s hard to work hard for where you are for so many years and end up behind instead of ahead.
Tim, 25, Atlanta, Georgia
- Income: $20,000 - $50,000
- Household: 2
- Debt: Credit card, student loans
- Class: Lower middle
My wife and I have four degrees between us but I’m unemployed and she is making $37,000 a year gross. After taxes, social security and health insurance we take home $2,100 a month, of which $700 goes toward rent, $200 toward credit cards, $400 to our cars and insurance for them, $300 for diabetes supplies as my wife is a type 1 diabetic. That leaves $700 a month for food, utilities and student loan payments. Our budget is doable if nothing goes wrong, but the other day my wife had to go to the emergency room and I shudder to think what that is going to cost us.
Nancy, 51, Des Moines, Iowa
- Income: $20,000 - $50,000
- Household: 1
- Debt: Student loans
- Class: Lower middle
I cannot make ends meet and struggle to find grocery and gas money, let alone pay student loans which started at $15,000 and are now over $62,000. My rent is 40% of my take-home pay. I cannot afford medical bills [not covered] by the insurance, shop for clothing or save for retirement. There is no savings account whatsoever and I’m behind on almost every bill.
Rachel, 30, Enumclaw, Washington
- Income: $20,000 - $50,000
- Household: 2
- Debt: Credit card
- Class: Lower middle
I make less than $30,000 and have no benefits. However, I have less than $500 of credit card debt and no other debts, so I consider myself in alright shape financially. I have consciously avoided going to college because of the debt.
Donald, 72, Richmond, Virginia
- Income: $50,000 - $100,000
- Household: 2
- Debt: Credit card
- Class: Lower middle
After meeting fixed monthly expenses and paying income taxes to the federal and state authorities, there is no – I repeat, no – money left to be able to eat well or do anything in terms of discretionary spending.
James, 51, Dublin, Ohio
- Income: $50,000 - $100,000
- Household: 4
- Debt: Credit card, student loans, mortgage
- Class: Lower middle
I am not making enough to save anything. I am living paycheck to paycheck; missing bill payments; not knowing how to pay for the next thing that breaks down; not being able to fix things that are broken; living from one crisis to the next.
Karen, 53, Boulder, Colorado
- Income: $50,000 - $100,000
- Household: 1
- Debt: Student loans
- Class: Lower middle
I have student loans and the interest is out of control. As a single mom in the late 90s, I used student loans to pay for childcare, car repair and health insurance. I got my undergrad with $70,000 in debt. That number is triple that now because I can’t keep up with interest. I will never own a house and my skill set isn’t managerial. So my income potential is limited. I don’t make $70,000 a year. I hate the debt and it’s unrealistic to even try to pay off. I couldn’t even pay for my daughter to have a nice wedding.
I don’t use credit cards. I had credit card debt and it was less than $10k total. I paid it off 5 years ago by eating turkey sandwiches and mac and cheese. I don’t want to do that again. I lead a modest life with no vices like shopping, drinking, eating out all the time or similar habits. My cable bill is my biggest non-essential.
Erin, 44, Mobile, Alabama
- Income: $100,000 - $250,000
- Household: 2
- Debt: Credit card, student loans, mortgage
- Class: Middle class
I’ve been unemployed for nine of the past 12 months, and we can almost cover our monthly bills on my husband’s salary.
Our bills: two car payments, mortgage, student loans that I’ve been paying for the past 20 years and buckets of credit card debt left over from the bad years when we almost went bankrupt.
Tracy, 44, San Antonio, Texas
- Income: $100,000 - $250,000
- Household: 4
- Debt: Mortgage, student loans, credit card
- Class: Upper middle
While we owe over $200,000 in student loans and $26,000 in credit card debt, we do have a house worth $125,000. We still owe $100,000 on the house. I lived on credit cards for several years to get to this point. I have a master’s and a great job – finally. It took me 11 years to make it this far. My fiancé is in the same boat.
We don’t have anything extravagant. We owe more in student loans that we do on our house. We are not struggling compared to others, but the debt is scary. We can’t make all the student loan payments. The compound interest means we can’t pay on the principal at all; it continues to grow. One can only hope the government won’t take our social security to pay for the student loans.
It would be nice if they would forgive them and let me pay taxes on the money as earned income instead. We would have more money to spend in the economy rather than on those loans.
David, 30, Princeton, New Jersey
- Income: More than $250,000
- Household: 2
- Debt: Mortgage
- Class: Upper middle
We live in an area where housing and general cost of living are high. So even though our joint income is high nominally – around the top 1% cutoff – we do not feel very rich.
A lot of times, how rich people feel is all relative – ie, by comparing your own income with the people you know such as friends and family. A lot of our friends and acquaintances have similar income to us and we don’t know many people with a much lower income. This could potentially explain why we don’t feel like the rich people, but someone from a much lower income social group may think of us as the super rich.
