re: Is a family of 4 that earns 97k/year middle class or upper class, on average?

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100k per year will barely get you by for a family of four.

It is no where near upper middle(or what I would consider UM) even in rural Alabama.

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My wife and I are in the top 3.5% for family income and we miss out on any and all deductions based on income and just barely pay out of social security by years end so we pay the entire payroll tax more or less....we live pretty good and have some pretty healthy retirement accounts but we just returned from a long weekend at am imdoor water park full of young families and for the life of me I don't know how they do it...we spent about $1200 for 3 days and we drove....had we flown that would've been about $2500...and there were hundreds of early 20 something families there with 2 and 3 kids...I don't know how they feed and house themselves, let along spend a $1000 on a long weekend....