I will hold on my opinions for now.

Probably a mostly white neighborhood

Accounting majors

Majoring in accounting.

living in a white suburb.

Add 50% to these numbers if you live in expensive major areas (LA, NY, etc), but generally middle class would look something like this on average:

$55,000 to $575,000 income
$305,000 to $1.8 mill home
$34,000 to $90,000 car
50% live paycheck to paycheck
Underfunded retirement accounts

Dead center average would look like this:

$405,000 home - 3 bed, 2 bath, 2 car garage
$78,000 income
$43,000 truck
Overall Broke

Not renting

No such thing now, it's basically all just the slave class, with minute differences.

I feel like your average home price would be low for good neighborhoods in the top few dozen cities, but high for the vast majority of neighborhoods outside of the top 30-40 most competitive cities in the USA. Huge disparity there. 200-250k can go quite far in many decent places.

$78k for one person and up to 2 kids, maybe. A little on the low side, but not bad - they won't go wanting. Not exactly primo experiences, but not bad. To also support a spouse and anything else (3+ kids and pets), it needs to be substantially above $100k.

If with one spouse, then one car should be an inexpensive coupe that gets good MPG. Ideally, if living in a bigger city with good public transportation, then perhaps only one car.

Oh, and don't forget to pray.

ETA:A few years ago, I remember seeing a fairly major news item from one of the main channels that did a breakdown of what, adjusted for inflation, the "magic number" would be for solid middle class 1950s standards living adjusted to inflation to maybe 2017, one income, a spouse, and 2.5 kids. That number was a little over $150k.

I think if you walk past a shop and see an expensive item of clothing and think "I want that". And buy it. Instead of thinking "I want that, so I better save for it". Also if you own a new car outright instead of on finance. I guess that's considered middle class where I am from

Da fuq? No sh!t you'd be broke with a $78k income and a $400k home lol.
Most folks doing that would probably have dual incomes and more around $150k combined income.

Most folks I know that I would consider middle class families are:
- combined income around $100k
- 2 used vehicles, nothing fancy
- paid around $300k for a house
- have less than $3k in the bank for emergencies and losing their job or a major unexpected expense would wreck them or make them have to borrow from parents

Upper middle class in my opinion is where you dont have to worry about expenses. You live a good life, don't have to monitor your bank account because you know the money is there, and you're saving a good chunk to invest each month. This is where me and most of my successful friends are.

Like we're not rolling in cash, but we live in nice places, drive luxury/sports cars, and if tomorrow I had an expected expense for $5k-$10k it would suck for sure... but it wouldn't change my financial situation.

I have friends living the dream with kids and a house in the suburbs and two used SUV's... and an unexpected $5-10k expense would absolutely wreck them bad.

I think this is pretty accurate. Or if you are not renting, you are immediately upper class.

that sounds like "upper middle" class to me (srs)

In a capitalist system, success rises at a greater rate than any other system. Economic classes move upwards quickly as a result. What was middle class 30 years ago is considered poverty today, and what was considered rich is now middle class.

When people say middle class is disappearing, what is actually happening is the middle class is moving up. In other words, if you keep looking at the same income as middle class, it will appear to be getting smaller.

In reality, 75% of people pull THEMSELVES out of poverty every year and move in to the middle class. Something similar happens to the rich, but it’s far less stable. Something like 75% of people move in to the “rich class”, but don’t actually stay there. So when you talk about “the rich”, you’re actually referring to a different group of people every 10 to 15 years!! When you talk about “the poor”, you will be looking at a completely new group of people within 15 to 20 years. By median age, a vast majority of people move into middle class, while others move in to the rich class.

We need to stop thinking of poverty, middle-class, and the rich as a constant. Very, very few people stay poor their entire lives. The largest demographic among the poor are the youth.