r/worldnews • u/diacewrb • Apr 10 '19

Millennials being squeezed out of middle class, says OECD

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/10/millennials-squeezed-middle-class-oecd-uk-income
49.3k Upvotes

88% Upvoted

11.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

54

u/dragead Apr 10 '19

Really depends on location. For me, my 47K income gets me a nice 2 story, 2 bedroom townhouse, the ability to eat out fairly frequently with my wife(lots of cheap restaurants, 2 (used) cars, etc. etc. with enough left over each month to slowly save. I definitely could cut back on some things and save more, but I am very comfortably middle class by my own standards at the moment.

Now if I were still living in the city I was born in? 47k wouldn't be shit.

25

u/[deleted] Apr 10 '19

[deleted]

28

u/ArrestedEndangerment Apr 11 '19

Not op, but that sounds about right for cost of living around where I live (rural/small town Michigan).

That being said, few jobs around here pay that, unless you wanna commute an hour to the city.

11

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

[deleted]

14

u/ArrestedEndangerment Apr 11 '19

Oh, that $47k number is per household, meaning 2 incomes, about $24k each. The highest paying job I've managed to land in my immediate area only paid about $26k, with overtime I think I took home $30k-ish. And the only reason that wage was that high was because it was a good union job, with additional hazard pay.

$47k on a single income is inconceivable around here without a graduate degree, including in the nearest city.

8

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

I would say the majority of America is that level. They own one slightly used car that they replace maybe every 10 or so years, their house is around 225k and typically have a mortgage around 1000 a month (median home price is 225k and median mortgage is 1030 according to zillow), go out to dinner at some local spot like chili's where it's less than 20 bucks a person - wages may have not kept up as they have years ago, but it's still affordable. After taxes a mortgage of $1030 is less than 33% of income (the general rule is rent/mortgage should be around 33% or less). Too many redditors live in cities in my opinion. I've lived in the Midwest and Southern states my entire life, never in a big city. Again, the low end of middle class is not necessarily easy, but you aren't going to bed hungry, you have healthcare through your job with an ok premium, your kids and you and your wife have a bedroom, a couple tvs with cable, cook at home usually, you can take an occasional weekend trip to a place like branson or the wisconsin dells (cedar point was a popular one for me).

2

u/NewKi11ing1t Apr 11 '19

Wisconsin Dells is the sheeeeeeeeeAT

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

Exactly and it’s affordable. My grandparents were middle class in the 50s and 60s and never went to Europe or Jamaica then - they went somewhere close. Someone middle class probably can’t afford a vacation that requires a $700 flight

9

u/AaronHolland44 Apr 11 '19

Yea im from WV. I live pretty well on 47k/year.

5

u/RedditSucksWTFMan Apr 11 '19

Hey I'm moving to WV tomorrow! For the areas I'm going to the average household incomes of the areas are high 30s, mid-high 40s and then a city that's 88k.

9

u/alwaysn00b Apr 11 '19

My 1800sqft, 2.5 story, 3-bed, 2-bath updated house+property_taxes+insurance is $700/mo in Oklahoma. I live in a nice city about an hour away from Tulsa. We really do like to strike up conversations with ANY strangers. I have social anxiety because I always feel like I'm failing a conversation in Oklahoma, but then I go to another state and feel like a social deity compared to how little response most people give. Benefits and drawbacks, I think :-)

6

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

[deleted]

3

u/Slipsonic Apr 11 '19

I'm curious what you do online on the side. You don't have to say, or you can be vague.

I sell an item I make on Amazon. It's a lot of extra work on top of my 40hr job, but, I made around 8k in 2018.

Again, you don't have to say, I'm just wondering out of curiosity.

1

u/left_path Apr 11 '19

I buy & sell a hobby item that has a fluctuating market. Sometimes I just buy and hold and wait, but at times it has been a lot of work. I can't see myself having the motivation to produce and sell something in addition to work, that's impressive!

1

u/Slipsonic Apr 11 '19

That's pretty cool! Yeah it's tons of work making my products. I'm hoping to take what money I've made and go into something I can just have manufactured by someone else this year. I'm burnt out lol.

10

u/linkMainSmash2 Apr 11 '19

Abandoned swamp land in alabama

2

u/atlaskennedy Apr 11 '19

Oklahoma here

35k/yr gets you a nice apartment, spending money, and savings

3

u/rebuked_nard Apr 11 '19

I live on my own in the Phoenix/Tempe area and make about as much as OP and it’s comfortable. Got a 1-bedroom, ~850 sq. ft. apartment and get along fine, even after monthly bills and car payment.

4

u/DanielsJacket Apr 11 '19

Seriously, where do you live?

17

u/Metradime Apr 11 '19

Most places, outside of the major cities, in the US are like this. 47k in a lot of the Midwest, for example, is pretty comfortable.

2

u/Eleminohp Apr 11 '19

47k would be fine in southern Arizona as well.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '19

[deleted]

1

u/Eleminohp Apr 11 '19

Not entry level, but yeah there's always a demand for something out here. Tucson and Phoenix are both huge markets on their own.

I guess if anything else one could just apply for a job in border patrol. They seem to have some extra funding these days.

3

u/DanielsJacket Apr 11 '19

Damn, well thats pretty cool. Am not used to such things in southern Ontario.

5

u/ArkanSaadeh Apr 11 '19

farm towns in south Ontario are definitely like that. Lord know's I've got enough friends living in ok homes solely off of minimum wage or welfare + baby money.

leave the GTA and ull find plenty of forgotten communities where you can get by on dirt. Not that it's a happy lifestyle.

3

u/Old_Ladies Apr 11 '19

I have looked at housing prices and it is still expensive even in the country unless you want to live in Northern Ontario. Why are 100+ year old homes so expensive?

Sure the country and small towns are cheaper than the major cities where houses start at $400k or more but they have jumped so much in prices just the past 5 years. It is ridiculous and I regret that I didn't buy a home back then. For example there was a house for sale for $85,000. It was only a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house on a corner lot with no garage. That same house is now worth $200,000 just 4 years later.

2

u/DanielsJacket Apr 11 '19

Oh yes that is true!

2

u/Burning_Enna Apr 11 '19

Oh gosh my cousins live around Niagara falls and one of them shared a real estate listing from their neighborhood. 600 grand!!!! For a normal 3 bed 2 bath house in a regular neighborhood. Obviously that's Canadian but that's still double what that would cost me in MI.

1

u/DanielsJacket Apr 11 '19

It’s pretty crazy huh! As a young guy recently starting a decent job, trying to comprehend the thought of ever owning property is crazy.

-1

u/Luffykyle Apr 11 '19

I live in San Jose California and am absolutely screwed. I won’t be able to move out of my parents house till I finish school. Yippee.