Is Everyone Upper Poor?
Why $140,000 is the new $32,000
Last week, lots of people were outraged about a the viral Substack post that claimed that “the real poverty line is $140,000.” This claim was provocative, keeping in mind that actual the poverty line in 2025 is just over $32,000 for a family of four. As a reminder, the poverty line is set annually by the Department of Health and Human Services and used to determine eligibility for various government assistance programs. Going from $32,000 to $140,000 is quite a jump.
Nevertheless, despite the bold claim, it turned out that a lot of people actually agreed with the underlying idea -that the cost of basic self-sufficiency for a family of four is significantly higher than the government thinks it is. Whether it is $140,000 is another question. But here’s how the author got to that number, by using national-average data to calculate “just the ‘Participation Tickets’ required to hold a job and raise kids in 2024” (no luxuries, no vacations, no Netflix, etc):
Childcare: $32,773
Housing: $23,267
Food: $14,717
Transportation: $14,828
Healthcare: $10,567
Other essentials: $21,857 (including things like clothing and internet service)
Federal, state, and FICA taxes of roughly $18,500
Adding all these expenses together, the end result is the realization that basic living requires a gross income of $136,500. What’s a neat coincidence is that this number also maps on to the numbers from last year’s meme about being “upper-poor.” The new class categorizations proposed on TikTok and Instagram were encapsulated in the chart below, and the $140,000 number fits squarely in the upper-poor or lower-surviving range, give or take a a few expenses.
What all these calculations and charts tell us, whether you believe in the upper-poor label or the $140,000 poverty line, is that what we used to think of as the middle class is not as stable a category as we previously imagined. As some have argued, the traditional middle is dwindling, being hollowed out, and being replaced by a middle class that is actually comprised of the upper-poor and upper-middle classes.
This is not to say that there is no longer a middle class. The claim might be, more accurately, that the economic security and sense of financial optimism that once came with a middle-class salary is crumbling. As Lindsey Stanberry details over at The Purse, some families making around $140,000 certainly don’t feel financially secure. One family of three living on $161,500 in Louisville, Ky., admitted feeling burdened by expenses, particularly childcare. The woman, a digital marketing manager, said: “I feel stressed about it, and I wish we were in a better financial situation.”
Another woman, Alison, who lives in Alabama with her husband and two children has talked about how hard it is to make ends meet with a $100,000 salary, mostly because of childcare and healthcare expenses. She said in an interview:
I really just thought I wouldn’t be stressed out about money at this point. It is so disheartening. What point do you have to get to, or how hard am I going to have to work, to where we’re not worried anymore?
Similarly, Greg, a married father of two, said when interviewed: “I never thought I would be making $100,000 and still be struggling.”
The throughline in all these stories is that middle-class salaries don’t guarantee middle-class lifestyles or provide protection from financial precarity. The throughline is that all these families don’t feel middle-class, don’t feel like they thought they would when making a six-figure salary. What is gone is not necessarily the middle-class itself, but the cultural concept of the stable middle-class family. While there’s still a middle class, families in it don’t feel “middle class” as measured against “a notion of family life that once included a measure of security and stability.” That is to say, middle-class now feels like upper-poor.
Raising the poverty line to $140,000 is probably not the answer for all kinds of reasons and will never, ever, never happen in this lifetime. But we should acknowledge the fact the middle-class is not just a number but a cherished socio-cultural notion as well as a traditionally American economic aspiration. Middle-class is a vibe, and right now not a lot of people are feeling it.
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That's totally - this is where the family support comes in strong. Even small amounts as gift or actual services like childcare make all the difference. I think this may be one of the biggest factors in differentiating between middle class families - those who have a support network and those who don't. Those who don't borrow/use credit and that makes matters worse! Great topic and I look forward to reading more on it!
Your piece, along with Green's piece, are at least offering an explanation for why I've been feeling like I'm treading water with ankle weights! As a single mom in Los Angeles -- yikes!