Middle Class - The Real Cost of Living: $150,000 Minimum

The divide between the 1 percent and the 99 percent has ignited a national debate about the income gap, especially since Occupy Wall Street protesters descended on lower Manhattan last fall. But how much money does it take to feel financially secure these days?

The answer, at least according to a new survey of Americans by WSL/Strategic Retail, is $150,000. That level of income is more than three times the national median of $49,445 for 2010, and it’s enough to put a household into the top 10 percent nationally.

RELATED: Down and Out on $250,000 a Year

The survey asked respondents to choose which of four categories best described them: I can’t even afford the basics; I can barely afford the basics and nothing else; I can afford the basics plus some extras; and I can afford the basics, the extras, and I’m able to save too. It is only at that $150,000 level that the survey found the vast majority of consumers, 88 percent, saying they could buy what they need, afford some extras, and still be able to save a bit.

Even as the economy improves and consumer confidence builds, more than half of Americans – 52 percent – feel like they can just afford the basics, and many with six-figure incomes still feel like they are just scraping by. The survey found that 18 percent of American households earning between $100,000 and $150,000 said they could only afford the basics, with another 10 percent saying they sometimes can’t even afford those staples.

“We clearly have what used to be upper middle income – 75 to 150k – folks who are saying, it just isn’t so,” says Candace Corlett, president of WSL/Strategic Retail. “A quarter of them are saying I can barely afford the basics.” So while six-figure incomes used to represent affluence, that’s no longer the case.

Of course, as The Fiscal Times has written before, in many parts of the country, an annual income of $250,000 could easily leave a typical family in the red once all their expenses and taxes are factored in.

The buying power of the average paycheck has shrunk along with home values. The WSL Strategic Retail survey found that $150,000 is the minimum for the average household to be able to afford the basics and a few extras, with a little left over to sock away for a rainy day. Of course, that $150,000 is based on average costs for housing, food, clothing, etc.--perhaps a place like Peoria, Illinois. If it takes that kind of money to have a decent middle class life in Peoria, what would it take to match it in the New York Metropolitan area, Phoenix, or Chicago?

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Perhaps we should focus upon the Ethical Pursuit and Use of Money. Perhaps we should seek to eliminate the Non-Compassionate Use of Accumuled Wealth. Perhaps we should seek to eliminate Destitute Poverty. What if the Top One-Percent Reincarnated as the Bottom One-Percent? What if this is already the case???!!!