The Upper Middle Class doesn't start at $
60,000 household income. Unless you live in Kansas or
South Dakota, $60k per household doesn't get you very far in the typical metro area where most
Americans live today. $60k per
family is squarely middle class.
The upper middle class is better described as the Professional or Managerial Class, and consists of mostly
white collared professionals or successful small business owners. Typical professions in the upper middle class are biglaw lawyers, physicians, dentists, accountants, consultants, school principals, and engineers with managerial roles. Many have advanced degrees beyond college.
They tend to live in cities during their 20s, marry in their late 20s or
early 30s, and move to wealthy suburbs with good school districts when the kids come. The political affiliations of the upper middle class vary greatly with age and region in the
country. Among the upper middle class, there is often a strong emphasis on education and getting into the right college for their children, to the point of obsession (see helicopter
parents).
Household incomes vary from $100k to $500k. Most upper middle class families still depend on salary and their day job to sustain their lifestyle (hence they are not Upper Class which relies more on investment & rent income). The upper middle class are the heaviest taxed group in America (whereas those in the upper class have more of their income in capital gains, which has a lower
tax rate).
In America, the poor thinks they are in the
middle class and the
middle class thinks they're in the upper middle class, while the upper middle class thinks they're typical middle class
Americans.
