How Much Do You Have to Make to Be Considered Middle Class in ME?

I used to describe myself as middle class. I'm thinking I'll be changing my definition.

GOBankingRates did some digging using information from the Census Bureau's 2018 American Community Survey. They based it on what the Pew Research Center defines as middle class (middle-income household). You have to have an income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income.

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Of course, cost of living and average incomes are very different from state to state. You might be middle-class in one state and nowhere near middle-class in another state. So, GOBankingRates used Pew's definition and crunched the numbers for all the states. But let's just cover Maine.

Marcio Silva

Maine

2-person family middle-class income range: $42,119.55 to $125,730
3-person family middle-class income range: $50,917.32 to $151,992
4-person family middle-class income range: $60,412.56 to $180,336

So, are you middle class? That's quite the range of income to hit the middle spot. But if you go to our neighbors to the south, New Hampshire, it gets a lot tougher to be middle class!

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New Hampshire

2-person family middle-class income range: $51,969.89 to $155,134
3-person family middle-class income range: $63,278.82 to $188,892
4-person family middle-class income range: $77,816.48 to $232,288

The income levels in New Hampshire were pretty crazy, even outpacing what it takes to be middle class in New York!

If you compare what is considered middle class to what is the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), it's a definite reality check.

$17,420 for a family of 2
$21,960 for a family of 3
$26,500 for a family of 4

According to a quick Google search, 10.9% of Maine lived below the poverty level in 2019. Almost 11% of Maine residents live below the poverty level! That's absolutely insane!

LOOK: Here is the richest town in each state

Just saying the names of these towns immediately conjures up images of grand mansions, luxury cars, and ritzy restaurants. Read on to see which town in your home state took the title of the richest location and which place had the highest median income in the country. Who knows—your hometown might even be on this list.

Gallery Credit: Meagan Drillinger

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

Gallery Credit: Hannah Lang

Source: How Much Do You Have to Make to Be Considered Middle Class in Maine?