Wall Street Journal says more households move into upper middle class

[iris lilies]

Well, one of our friends' sons got married and bought a little Cape Cod outside of Boston. Tiny. They showed me pictures and it looked a lot like the Cape Cod I grew up in. They paid $600,000!! Her family has money, apparently. With a 20% down payment, that's $4000/month! On a 30-year mortgage! Now, I made good money in my prime years, but I could not have afforded $4k a month. My home, which I felt I could comfortably afford was under $2k a month. I don't get how people earn enough to live in some of these places. I wish people would go back to investing in communities like yours, IL.

key words “ outside Boston.”

well no chit Sherlock, the upper classes are centering in coastal paradise.

Just to iterate, I LOVE New England. Is super attractive but for those awful winters. And in my younger day, the real estate would’ve been beyond me, but now I can afford it mainly because I’ve lived in flyover country where real estate is cheap and I can build up assets outside of primary home.

[iris lilies]

My little cottage has almost doubled in price since 2017 when we bought it.

So, here is my very dumb, uneducated take on the story behind the numbers in the WSJ article. I have seen other stories about how great it is that the "core" middle class is now moving to the "penthouse in the sky." Here is a picture I took of a graph that made the same case:

Attachment 6772

Here is the analysis: https://www.aei.org/research-product...-middle-class/

And here is my feeling about affordability.

The more people who are richer than Joe Shmo, the more the affluent class drives prices up. Isn't the free market all about "what the market will bear?" Well, if 75% of the people think a little shack on the beach is worth a half a million dollars to them, it limits the opportunity for people like the grandfather who purchased it two generations ago for a cheap price.

When it comes to food, 75% say, "oh, $15.00/lb for steak! No big deal!" And 25% are saying, "I'm going to have to look for ground beef in the expired pile." And this isn't just for low-income earners. if things are skyrocketing beautifully for the nouveau riche, what's happening to all the Baby Boomers who are retiring and relying on Social Security for the most part. They are presented with a double whammy--not only do they have too little in their limited stash to comfortably get by, but now basic needs are rising. You can say "too bad--you should have planned better," but until you've walked in the shoes of everyone who is struggling today, it's unfair to blame the nouveau poorer core middle class for feeling squeezed.

It just warps the value of everything when 75% of the people have higher thresholds of affordability.

Now, I don't know what these lines mean in terms of income and buying power because I only scanned the analysis. I'm just looking at the picture that tells me that the "core" middle class is no longer "core" in the way that the middle class was in the post-war years. That's my other point of contention--what is the definition of prosperity? That's a whole other thing that these financial analyses don't do a good job of explaining. We felt pretty good in the 50s and 60s about our place in the economic spectrum. But now we have so many cultural forces that are diminishing our core values that "affordability" is an exercise in scarcity of other aspects of a good life. And we can't totally blame people whose worldviews are shaped by forces outside themselves.

I have no idea if this makes any sense, but I'm open to discussion. I'm a qualitative (not quantitative) researcher for a reason--statistics aren't my strong suit, so I'd love to see counterarguments.

The study is indeed the one the Wall Street Journal article used because they share one of the graphs.


This economic study reiterates that the middle class has been “hollowed out “because many households have moved into upper middle class territory. The authors do mention there should be a gain of goods and services these families “should “ be able to afford with their increased wealth.

If as you say rising costs do not afford these families tangible betterment, then I guess it doesn’t really matter if they are increasingly upper class.

it’s too bad that the cost of Moderat houses have risen so much. But I can’t get too sad that today’s young families can’t afford the vacation home that their grandfather could afford because vacation homes are not a necessity. If the vacation homes in prime spots are increasingly desirable, why shouldn’t the prices rise? Why must everyone who wants a vacation home, a cabin on the lake, get one? In the Bernie utopia, does everyone get a house on a lake?

[iris lilies]

Here's a good buy (really cheap for Portland) but it's 960 sq feet 2 bd, 1 bath old house--really pretty
166 Maine Ave, Portland, ME 04103 | MLS# 1657103 | Redfin

But it's 490k. Here's another one that is a bargain in Portland:
93 Caron St, Portland, ME 04103 | MLS# 1653853 | Redfin

Neither of these are in fancy neighborhoods

that red house is super sweet, and the other one is nice too.


I look at real estate in Portland. There is a row of red brick Victorian attached houses that I really really like.

[rosarugosa]

Our neighbors bought a small house in 2016 for $295,000. They're putting it on the market for $550,000, and I bet they'll get at least $600,000. for it. It's 790 SF, 2 bdrm, 1 bath, almost no back yard. It's in pristine condition. We are "outside Boston," i.e. 12 miles or 1.5 hours away.

[catherine]

But I can’t get too sad that today’s young families can’t afford the vacation home that their grandfather could afford because vacation homes are not a necessity. If the vacation homes in prime spots are increasingly desirable, why shouldn’t the prices rise? Why must everyone who wants a vacation home, a cabin on the lake, get one? In the Bernie utopia, does everyone get a house on a lake?

I agree with you. Waterfront property appreciates much faster than other properties. I used that just as an example. It's just a little mind-blowing to me that the little shack I bought in 2018 for $164,000 is worth so much more just nine years later. And I know it's because there is so much more disposable income in a larger proportion of the population, but it feels like there is a lot less disposable income for the rest.

I agree with you that the culture has pushed "need creep" much higher, so these perceived needs have added to the sense of deprivation and lack of affordability overall, but again, some of this has been pushed by omniscience of social media. Anyone with an Instagram account can make it look like they are better off than you are. Yet, I still think that the rise of the middle classes to upper middle class in numbers a) doesn't tell the whole picture of what they are and aren't purchasing and b) the true impact of widening inequality overall.

[rosarugosa]

This overlaps with a discussion on another thread, but our neighbors who are putting their house on the market are planning to go back to renting, because "we just don't want to do this anymore." He is retired and she is an RN planning to work for 6 more years; they are in their mid-sixties. I was surprised, because he seems to really like puttering around his property, and has a sideline of buying cars, fixing them up and selling them. It also seems like a great little home for aging in place. I wonder what he will do with his retired self in an apartment, but it's definitely not my problem. To DH and I, it seems crazy to sell a house and then rent, but I suppose it can be sensible in many respects at a certain age. I'm sorry they will be moving though; they are good neighbors.

I sometimes wonder about our former member Cathy A, who lived in a very rural setting on a large piece of property. She had a lot of medical issues and I believe some mobility impairment, but was determined to stay in her home. Hopefully that works out OK for them, because it didn't seem like there was any willingness to develop a Plan B.

[iris lilies]

…I sometimes wonder about our former member Cathy A, who lived in a very rural setting on a large piece of property. She had a lot of medical issues and I believe some mobility impairment, but was determined to stay in her home. Hopefully that works out OK for them, because it didn't seem like there was any willingness to develop a Plan B.

I see this far too often with my friends and acquaintances.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a cohort of senior and elderly people because that’s who tends to be in the plant societies and garden club. They dig in their heels about moving any place else. Their house gets junked up because they lose some executive function and how to sort and be rid of things, plus, they’re always at doctors offices and doctors appointments so they have limited time to live their old life. A layer of grime and dust settles on everything.

but there are are exceptions. One garden club acquaintance who was hobbling around after multiple surgeries put her house on the market practically the moment after her husband died and moved to a condo. I like this condo in many ways and would live there.

The degradation of my big Iris beds is starting to weigh on me. I Have many flower beds, and the ones attached to my house are well kept, orderly and planted up. One of them is incredibly beautiful because it’s a full four years old now and fully mature.

But the big Iris planting down the hill in our one acre is suffering and has suffered for years. Even after a major renovation and some of the beds last year, things are not looking good. So, I’m thinking about abandoning yet another 60 spots for iris.

[catherine]

The realtor who sold us our house here also lives in my town and became a good friend. She had a beautiful 10-acre plot with a home that she updated tastefully. Gorgeous house, but she has that personality where everything has to be perfect. Her dream was to only stay there a few years and then move into Manhattan. Her dream was slightly deferred, but sure enough, last year she gave signals that she was readying her home to list and show it.

She listed it in the summer 2025, and it sold by the end of the day for 1.2M. Here's the listing: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...53318232_zpid/

She sold her cars and most of her furniture and moved into a 1BR place on the East Side. She is thrilled. I don't care how exciting NYC is, or how great it is not to have to mow 10 acres, I would NOT get a 1BR as a principal residence. And she paid probably close to a million for it. Different strokes. She is SO happy, constantly posting pictures of her and her dog at Centrl Park doggie meet-ups (it's amazing that the meetup is breed-specific, and a lot of people show up).

I could be tempted, though to live in a place maintenance-free. If I did, I could still garden as a volunteer Master Gardener.

[frugal-one]

My DH has a saying… “Pretty only goes so far”! Good for her! Doing what SHE wants to do and not listening to others trying to dissuade her.

[iris lilies]

The realtor who sold us our house here also lives in my town and became a good friend. She had a beautiful 10-acre plot with a home that she updated tastefully. Gorgeous house, but she has that personality where everything has to be perfect. Her dream was to only stay there a few years and then move into Manhattan. Her dream was slightly deferred, but sure enough, last year she gave signals that she was readying her home to list and show it.

She listed it in the summer 2025, and it sold by the end of the day for 1.2M. Here's the listing: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...53318232_zpid/

She sold her cars and most of her furniture and moved into a 1BR place on the East Side. She is thrilled. I don't care how exciting NYC is, or how great it is not to have to mow 10 acres, I would NOT get a 1BR as a principal residence. And she paid probably close to a million for it. Different strokes. She is SO happy, constantly posting pictures of her and her dog at Centrl Park doggie meet-ups (it's amazing that the meetup is breed-specific, and a lot of people show up).

I could be tempted, though to live in a place maintenance-free. If I did, I could still garden as a volunteer Master Gardener.

I would live in a one bedroom house as a single person. I spent a couple of weeks focused on conversion vans. Now I’ve moved into the world of tiny houses which of course have been around forever and I’ve dipped into it, but I could definitely live in the right tiny house. Again, as a single person.