Ugh - while I agree with the conclusion, the statistical definitions here don&#x27;t have any connection with reality.<p>$125,000 is &quot;upper class&quot;, you say, regardless of location?<p>&lt;explodes into laughter&gt;<p>Let&#x27;s translate that into the real world, shall we?<p>$125,000 Household Income....<p>Who makes it:<p>- IT manager or Senior Dev with stay at home spouse<p>- Mid-level Dev ($90K) married to a K-12 teacher ($40K)<p>- Two junior software developers (co-habituating)<p>Location matters, incidentally - if you&#x27;re in CA &#x2F; NY &#x2F; Northeast Coast, this is barely enough to buy a house (and I hope you like driving &#x2F; riding the train for a few hours).<p>A better analysis would be to draw the line somewhere in the the $200,000  - $500,000 range (based on salary + bonus, no equity boost) and include passive income. This is the point where you get a meaningful change in social options from the income (eg. top tier housing, private schools, accredited investor status, second home, ample emergency funds, etc.). Also incorporate some view of regional costs - since the &quot;Social Freedom&quot; point is much higher in NY &#x2F; CA than in rural Alabama.<p>Sad to say, there are many areas of the country where living on $125,000 still definitely sucks.