this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2025
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Oddly, millionaires aren't really the middle class. House's in California routinely cost more than a million dollars. And a lot of people probably have a million dollars of retirement in one form or another. (Pensions have a value that very often tops a million). The middle class you are describing (athletes and pop stars) probably are more like 100 million or something. We just don't have a good name for that.
What the "middle class" can afford has changed quite a bit in the last few decades. Owning a home is arguably "upper class" at this point. The median US income was only $80k in 2023. Pentions are also getting increasingly rare. What used to be considered middle class is now struggling to get by. Middle class is defined by the income of the middle third of the population, not by a particular lifestyle.
Petite bourgeoisie is what they are called. Wealthy people without an aristocratic title, not part of the ruling class and who still use their own labor to create wealth.