re: Middle class in Louisiana… how much?

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My wife and I make about 150k combined and live in a house we bought for 130k. Only have one car note and it still feels like we aren't ever able to save as much as we should. We eat out maybe twice a month. We don't have kids. I don't see how folks with 3 or 4 kids at this income level are swinging it.

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You've got a spending problem.

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$350k house. Let’s say you buy now with 20% down that’s gonna be $2k mortgage. Insurance, property taxes, let’s add another $350 on there

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In Mandeville, a $350K house would require another $750 a month to pay taxes and homeowners insurance.

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Cars - $600 ( 2 notes)

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That’s 2 5 year or older cars. If you purchased a modest new Nissan, Honda, or Toyota your combined payments would be more like $900 min.

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Gas/Maintenance - $225

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Gas for 2 cars a month is more like $400 a month.

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Medical - $300

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Even with your employer paying 50% of the cost, medical insurance for a family is going to run you $800 a month min.

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Utilities - $200

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Electricity alone is $350 min a month May - Sept.

As a single father in the New Orleans - Metairie Southshore Metro, my income is in the 97th percentile for individual income and 90th percentile for household income according to this calculator:

LINK

And between housing costs, utility costs, property taxes, homeowners insurance, child support, and the usual "frick you" incident that happens once a quarter or so in New Orleans, I'm barely scraping by on a month-to-month basis.

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While you’re not wrong, it’s what my family seems to do every month. Nobody likes cooking.

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We make a good bit more than his hypothetical middle-class family, and we are nowhere close to that. Granted, we don't eat out at sit down restaurants all that often. Maybe every 2 months. We get takeout usually every Friday, but otherwise cook at home.

Spending roughly 1/3 of your net income on food with a couple of kids at home just seems kind of foolish to me, but to each their own.

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Not middle class. If it is it’s the bottom of the barrel middle class.

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so fricking stupid. I do not understand why things like this is so hard for you to understand

130k puts you in the 73% total nation wide....essentially top end of middle class for the US based on december 2023 numbers. but yea...bottom of the barrel middle class

130k household puts you in the 82nd percentile in the USA

so now if you are a top 20% household...you barely qualify for middle class?

its like yall dont understand math and run strictly off emotions...bunch of females


middle class is literally

25%-40%- lower middle class
41-60%- middle middle class
61-75%- upper middle class


so how is someone that is in the 82nd percentile as far as household incomes in this state....barely middle class?

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As a single father in the New Orleans - Metairie Southshore Metro, my income is in the 97th percentile for individual income and 90th percentile for household income according to this calculator:

LINK /

And between housing costs, utility costs, property taxes, homeowners insurance, child support, and the usual "frick you" incident that happens once a quarter or so in New Orleans, I'm barely scraping by on a month-to-month basis.

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so you make 200k a year in Nola and you are "barely scraping by on a month-to-month basis"

sir......you have a fricking spending problem, big time

Louisiana is a big state with lots of cities.

“Middle class” in NOLA. Is a lot different than Lake province where you can get a lake front property for cheap

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We are currently saving about 30-40% of our take home. Doesn't ever feel like enough.

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I'm sure the ballers here save more but for most people that's a frick-ton

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Combined income in the 175k range to live like you’re in the middle class, but save very little

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If you make 175k in Louisiana and are struggling to get by you are doing something very wrong

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Spending $2500/mo on food seems a bit excessive for a middle-class family

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but he missed low on a few. I’d say he’s about right. We do a good bit better than that and I fell less well off than a few years back. I have never told my wife to pay attention to spending. I did a couple months ago.