Nursing and The Social Class

blueyesue · Nov 26, 2006

These nationwide measurements are not accurate because they don't take into account the area you live in. $60,000 is not upper middle class in CA or any other area that has large cities (There is a lot more wealth in LA than all of montana)

I believe this is from the national average. They do have graphs that will go by location.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Nov 26, 2006

These nationwide measurements are not accurate because they don't take into account the area you live in. $60,000 is not upper middle class in CA or any other area that has large cities (There is a lot more wealth in LA than all of montana)

Isn't that the truth? I don't think they even let you INTO Los Angeles if you don't make at least $200,000 a year:lol2:

A few years ago, my DH and I briefly considered moving back to my hometown in northern San Diego County; at the time, I wouldn't have made much more money than I was making here, but HE would've been able to earn at least two-and-a-half times more than he was getting. Then we looked at housing costs; for anything even remotely comparable to our 3000-sq. ft. home and 2 3/4 acres of woodland, we'd have had to pay about $2500/mo. (We pay less than half that here.)

And that was before we even considered San Diego Gas & Electric's rates, which are notoriously exorbitant, let alone water, sewer, and other utilities.........well, there was just no comparison, so we stayed put. Sure, we'd have been making around $90,000/yr instead of $65,000, but it wouldn't have gone nearly as far, even though the cost of living in Portland and the Willamette Valley has gotten outrageously expensive over the past 15 years. Still, we live pretty decently here, while in Southern California we couldn't afford a one-seat privy; which leads me to conclude that 'class' depends on where you live as much as anything else.