Earlier today, I was reading an article about what it takes to become a homeowner in various parts of the USA.
I suppose the article caught my eye because our daughter (29) and her fiancé bought a home this past summer. It was an old unrenovated "fixer" with three small bedrooms and one bathroom. It set them back $515,000... followed by months of renovation work and repairs. Thankfully, the fiancé is a contractor...
They are actually very unusual, because in this day and age homeownership before you reach age 30 is virtually unheard of.
It got me to thinking about how much life has changed, over the past 50 years.
There was a time when "dad" went to work at a decent job and "mom" stayed at home and minded the kids and the house, and the one-earned middle class family could afford a house.
That's simply not possible anymore.
Several months back, the last time I went to see my doctor, I was reading a financial magazine that was also talking about housing and the cost of living.
One of the rather startling statistics in the article was that it takes an annual income of US $280,000 to qualify as "middle class" if you life in the San Francisco Bay area of California.
What's wrong with that picture? The middle class starts at an income level that would put a household in the top 5 percent nationwide.
Granted this is one of the most expensive parts of the country... but it still made me realize that in my own life I have gone from being "Middle Class" not too long after finishing University to being pretty close to — and occasionally below — the poverty line in 2021.
I look at these insane numbers and set them against the reality that the minimum wage in the USA is just $7.25/hour... and has been for 12 years now. As a writer, editor and artist, my pay often works out to around $10 an hour and it is hopelessly inadequate to fund life... and so, I work at multiple things. And we still depend on social support (state/federal) for certain things, or we'd be out in the street... even though we are working.
Our only tangible savings are basically our powered up stakes in crypto-social venues... and that's a tough and sparse way to save up for retirement! But it's definitely better than nothing!
I'm not sure what it means to be "middle class" anymore, because the income level you need to have the life generally associated with being Middle Class puts most people more among the elites than the *middle." And I'm just not sure how that equation is going to play out, on its current trajectory.
Thanks for reading, and have a great remainder of your weekend!
How about YOU? How expensive is life, where you live? Is there still a "middle class," or are things moving towards a state of "elite or poverty?" Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — NOT A CROSSPOST!!!)
Created at 20210320 23:35 PDT
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That is true it is almost everywhere the income become less and we pay so much taxes. Even in such wealthy country like Germany there are many who have two jobs to effort normal life for their children and paid rent. Actually majority in Germany live in rented apartments. There are rich and poor middle class is slowly vanishing. Seems like it is tendency in many Western countries.
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I know back in Denmark, that has become true, too... and most people live in rented apartments owned by "housing associations." There are also more and more co-ops where groups of potential apartment buyers pool their resources into a "company" and buy the entire apartment buildings they are going to live in.
Even a 2-bedroom apartment in the neighborhood where I grew up on the outskirts of Copenhagen now goes for the equivalent of about 600,000 €.
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House prices are out of control in NZ at the moment, i am not sure how younger first time buyers can afford anything.
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Yeah, I hear NZ is insanely high on housing prices, too. Nobody makes enough money to buy a house anymore... and I don't know about your building industry, but here builders only want to create "luxury" homes, not affordable homes.
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