Where you live could be coming into play for what it means to be considered middle-class. Realtors in two very different parts of the nation say where you are and how much you earn now define what is considered middle-class, according to a study by Gobankingrates.com.
In Maryland, you need to earn $66,000 a year to be considered middle-class. In Mississippi, $35,000 manually is considered middle-class.
Brent Never, an associate dean for budget and finance at the University of Missouri Kansas City, says the more income it takes to become middle-class, the fewer Americans will consider themselves that way.
"When you think about what the middle class means conceptually, it means being able to do things like own your home, send your kids to college, be able to invest in your retirement," Never says.
A Pew Research poll shows that over the past 50 years, the American middle class has shrunk from 61% to 51%.
Never says the lower middle class is facing serious struggles.
"These are the folks, and I'm one of them, who have been able to strive and grow in their income. And you think about the fact that that is becoming harder to attain in a lot of these communities. And when people feel like they're locked out of that upward mobility, it creates a lot of problems for your community," he said.
Realtors Patty Kallmyer in Baltimore and Mary Hutchinson in Kansas City say they are seeing the effects firsthand in the housing market.
"Maybe $250 [thousand] would be a good price for a starter home eight years ago, would cost you probably in this area, probably, $350 [thousand] now," Hutchinson said.
"You know, we have the haves and have-nots, the lows and the highs, and when I first saw that statistic that the middle class is considered $200,000, I didn't believe it myself. But then I look at statistics every day, and statistics to me always lead back to real estate. But it's absolutely true," Kallmyer said.
Economist Markus Schneider with the University of Denver points to homeownership as the reason behind the gap, "One of the biggest dividers between the middle class and the people below the middle class trying to enter it is home ownership. And what outpaced wage gains, were rents."
Gobankingrates.com suggests using a bank's mobile app, which tends to offer specific ways to save. The website says third-party spending apps are also a good way to save. And finally, experts recommend taking advantage of a bank's auto-save features.
Schneider adds the answer lies with the people. "Really, it's a policy shift that needs to happen. A lot of cities are addressing that and in some ways that means that the most direct action might be to get involved," he said.
As Never suggests, without a middle class, there's no longer a United States.
"You start to think about, are people able to invest in their wealth for their kids. And ultimately, this story of two Americas becomes one where we can have a lot of fractious thoughts about how our economy is working or not working for our families," Never said.
