Does a $66,000 salary make you middle class, or upper class?

Question

I have a week before school starts, and I'm going into my second year of architecture class. Today I looked up what an average architecture/civil engineer makes a year. Being without any type of bonus, or raise, and I want to make sure when I have kids. That they can have a even better life than I have.

So does a $66,000 salary make you upper class, Or middle?

Thanks

- Jonathan :)

Answer 1

Decidedly middle class.

Answer 2

Middle Class.

Middle Class ranges from 30,000 - 250,000 a year. (net worth of 500,000 - 5 million)

Upper Class is 250,000 or above. (net worth of 5 million or above)

If you are making 66,000 a year, you are still considered top 25% of the income in United States.

Answer 3

Depends a little where you live.

The average salary in my hometown is $34,000.  So you'd definitely be Upper, or at least Upper Mid.

Some where like Los Angeles, you'll have an ok living, if you're single.  If you're married and/or have a kid, $66,000 will barely make it for you, you'll be constantly just over broke.

Answer 4

Upper class is a concept in sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class often have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.

In the US upper class means "the rich" and $66,000 will nto make you that.  but I can tell you that in 2006 the top 5% of US Households, not individuals, made $80,000 per year.  

Answer 5

Don't forget what average means:  half make more, half make less.

And, actually, you really want to know what the median salary is:  that is more realistically what you will make as you hit the high performance years of your career.  

Median more accurately describes the typical salary of the typical person holding your degree working in the field listed.  The "big problem" with average is that the people at the very top of the field skew the numbers upward in a dramatic fashion.  In my field, for example, there are hundreds of people who earn 7,8, or even 9 figure salaries (bonus included) in any given year.  Those salaries pull the average way up, but not the median -- the typical person in my field will never see a $100k bonus, let alone a $1mm one.

And the short answer to your question is middle class.

A family AGI of $100,000 is the (very) rough dividing line between upper middle class and upper class...assuming the upper class is about the top 10% of households.

Answer 6

i would say an upper middle class, but if you would want to really classify it, i would say upper class

Answer 7

plain old middle class

Answer 8

it really depends on where you live.  If in a big city, probably middle class.   Rural area would be considered upper-class

Answer 9

middle to lower middle class.  

It really depends on where you plan to live.  

$66K, after taxes in Seattle WA, it would be impossible to buy a house and tough to make ends meet with a family of four.

You'd barely be lower middle class here.

Answer 10

upper middle class.  according to my mortgage lender, the national average salary right now is $49,000

be thankful you're not trying to buy a house/live a life on my salary ($17,000)