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Comment by typicalrunt | Hacker News Reader

I feel exactly the same way except that I'm in another city, Vancouver BC. There is an odd assortment of people in Vancouver consisting of the obscenely rich, wannabe rich, obscenely poor, and singles/couples with no children. Once you have children, you are pushed out of the Vancouver area and into the suburbs due to cost of adequate living conditions [1]. But people say, "oh, it's just the suburbs, it's not that far to drive" and not realize that we have the 2nd worst traffic in North America [2].

I really shudder to think what 10-20 years will do to a city where the middle class (whatever that word means nowadays) has been completely hollowed out.

[1] http://www.vancouversun.com/news/East+Families+leave+Vancouv...

[2] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/01...

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How can middle class not mean anything? Doesn't it refer to the fat section of the income curve, where there are supposed to be the most number of people?

Sure, except that the perception of the middle class is significantly screwed (at least in the US, but probably similar up north).

In the US, the median household income is $51,404[1]. So, the middle class should probably be centered around that number. Say, $35000 to $75000 or so. I bet your looking at that number and saying "No way! I'm middle class and my household income is $150k!" Well, turns out that basically everyone thinks the same way regardless of what their incomes are.[2]

So it becomes pretty hard to nail down exactly what defines the various classes in the USA. Especially with the cost of living differences across the country.

Take a look at Rich Blocks, Poor Blocks[3] and spend a little time clicking around the map. The zip code I live in has a median household income of $38,646 and the site suggests the middle class income range for the state is $53,264 to $68,300.

Anyway, middle class is a loaded term.

1 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/29/c...

2 - http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/everyone-is-mid...

3 - http://www.richblockspoorblocks.com/

I think the middle class is defined to be those people who have enough income that mere survival is not a daily concern, but do not have so much money they don't have to work.

That is, indeed, most people, which is why further divisions are useful, and so we talk of "lower-middle" and "upper-middle".

No. It's more complex than that, and depends on who you're talking to.

Marxists, for example, do not find 'the middle class' to be a concept of any significance.

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