There was an article with a pretty compelling argument a while ago that basically said the true poverty line in the US is over 100.000$/year family income (when you look at what that number was originally supposed to measure). Below that you're getting fucked left and right.

Every dollar a family earns between 40k and 100k makes them poorer, because it triggers benefit losses (like health care & child care) that exceed income gains.

So what the US reports as "the middle class" are actually the working poor

So I learned it this way:

Upper Class - can live a luxurious life without working at all, and even have domestic employees etc.

Middle Class - can live comfortably but only if they work

Lower class - cannot live comfortably even if they work, and can very easily end up homeless (no social safety net)

The dude who taught me this was my Sociology of Work teacher over twenty years ago.

Middle: in between homelessness and millionaires

Median class? Mode class?

Nor even "the working class".

The precariat.

There's only two classes. There's nothing in the middle.

If you're in doubt which class you belong to, look at the paycheck. Does it have your name on it? Then you're one of the ones who get paid.

I mean, the "middle class" doesn't usually refer to the poorest 50%. The Lower class has always been the majority, Middle a large minority, and Upper a vanishing minority.

Yeah cuz the lower class don't get paid at all. Homelessness is rampant all over the states

It's better to think of working, middle, and upper class in terms of how much of their income derives from labour vs capital.

Working class = majority of income from working.

Upper class = majority of income from owning capital, i.e. can afford not to work at all.

Middle = somewhat evenly split.

Traditionally working class was associated with "lower" jobs such as labourers, and those working cushy office jobs usually earnt a high enough income to accumulate enough capital to become middle or upper class.

This is more aligned with the British definition, where their "middle class" is more equivalent to the US "upper middle class." Make no mistake though, with many jobs not paying enough to accumulate capital, professionals such as teachers, accountants, and nurses would firmly be considered working class, because they you know, need to work.