Think you’re middle class in NJ? Here’s a formula to tell

Are you old enough to remember when “making six figures a year” meant you were envied? Did you mean you were so-called ‘upper class’ even?

That’s a joke today.

We hear people talk about the rich and poor, the wealthy and the have-nots. But in politics, it’s that vast and vague group in between that is so coveted—the middle class.

To a politician, it’s almost an incantation. A magical chant to a path of victory. But what exactly is the middle class? Do you feel that you are?

I read an article on northjersey.com that offered an easy mathematical formula to test. Because so many of us feel like we have enough income yet still struggle and doubt our handling of money or our place in society, I wanted to share it with you.

The article cites Investopedia, which says one characteristic of the middle class is “an income that supports owning a residence and having the discretionary income for flexible expenses such as travel or dining out.”

That also points out it depends on the cost of living where you reside. The same Investopedia entry gives middle-class examples of “the highest range at $104,499 to $311,936 in Fremont, California. The lowest range, for Cleveland, Ohio, was $23,827 to $71,124.” In turn, those numbers come from an analysis by SmartAsset in 2023.

The formula offered in the northjersey.com piece is as follows:

If your income is between two-thirds to double the median income of the area in which you live, then welcome to that vast gray area known as the American middle class. It's not poor, but it's not safe enough to feel you can't end up there.

I’ll help you with the overall numbers for the Garden State, but you’ll have to look up the median income for your town or county depending on how specific a result you want.

Last year in New Jersey, the median income was $99,781.

The formula says if your income is between two-thirds of $99,781, which is $66,454.15, and double $99,781, which is $199,562, then you are middle class.

Therefore, New Jersey’s middle class earns between $66,454 and $199,562. Yet I know plenty of people who earn a bit more than $200,000 and would never feel they’re living the upper-class life. They’re still sweating the mortgage and unable to pay it down early. They’re still living in shock over and struggling with grocery prices, not taking elaborate vacations, and driving older cars.

If you want a more precise calculation of where you stand regarding middle-class status, you’ll need to find your county or town’s median income and do the same two-thirds to double formula, and towns can vary greatly. For example, Flemington is $85,306, leaving the middle-class range at earning between $56.813.80 and $170,612. At the same time, Freehold’s median income is $130,911, putting the middle class in that town from $87,186.73 to $261,822.

Of course, things get even murkier when you start considering a middle-class couple with no children versus a middle-class couple raising four kids in the same ZIP code. Bottom line: New Jersey is hard. Perhaps Bruce was right when he said we had to get out while we’re young.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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