Palo Alto can enter middle class at $250k
Higher-income families may continue to consider themselves middle class, which isn't all that unusual. Curiously, up and down the income spectrum, many Americans are predisposed to think of themselves as middle class, the Wall Street Journal has found. And both Obama and Romney at some point during the 2012 election cycle classified American families earning around $250,000 or under as middle class. It's also true that a family earning $250,000 can feel strapped for cash, and Klein is definitely right that cost of living makes a huge difference there, particularly in a super-high-cost place like Palo Alto, where she's from.