How much money does it take to have a middle class life in the United States?

Being able to have a quiet life in which it is possible to meet all financial obligations without major difficulty, in addition to Living with certain comforts in your own home is the dream of millions of people. what they aspire or believe belong to the middle class. However, an Orlando real estate agent has warned that Being part of that social class is a desire that is moving away from many.

Freddie Smith, real estate agent and creator of TikTok, told Fox News Digital that for most Americans The middle class is represented by a person who works forty hours a week and has enough income to buy a house average in the North American country. However, that dream is becoming especially complicated for younger generations such as millennials and generation Z who, due to the current economic climate, find it very difficult to afford their own home.

So, How much money do you have to earn to consider yourself middle class in the United States? According to the specialist, The average should be US$120,000 a year. Smith pointed out that This is mainly due to the high cost of real estate in the country, which has caused the standards of what it means to be middle class have moved. Until just a few years ago, between US$60,000 and US$70,000 annually were enough to buy a home, while today the average cost of a house is between US$400,000 and US$420,000.

In addition, he added that many millennials grew up as part of the middle class, but Currently there is a large gap between salary and the possibility of purchasing a house, Therefore, this generation has to rent for a longer period, which also means allocating between 30 and 40 percent of their income to that item, making it even more difficult to save to buy their own home.

In fact, the average American income in 2023 was about $60,000 a year, with only 18 percent exceeding $100,000.

The complicated outlook for millennials to be middle class

Beyond reaching an income of US$120,000 a year, there are other difficulties that millennials usually have to face because, even those who earn the previous figure, usually have to allocate part of their income to cover their student loan debts that they are in. at an all-time high and involve an average payment of US$500 per month per university degree and in some cases up to US$1,200.

But not only that, according to Smith, credit cards are also at a record level of debt in the US because there is a reckless impulse on the part of the new generations to get into debt and buy without planning for the future.

All of the above It is estimated that generation Z, which is beginning to live its working life, will also face the same problems, especially those who have families and must spend significant sums on daycare. In fact, the situation has caused many young people to decide to stay at home with their families in order to save.

However, the real estate expert made a clarification, and that is that he is not sure that millennials and generation Z want to follow the typical path of buying a house and living in it for forty years, in addition to staying in the same job. for all that time, given that, in his opinion, The new American dream is based on finding balance between work and personal life.