Doesn't tying income class to moving targets within those classes defeat the point of measuring them? (feddit.org)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by ki4jgt@feddit.org to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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The US Census Bureau defines lower class as the lowest 20% of incomes.

Pew defines it as the lowest 2/3 of the median.

If the highest income is $100, 20% is $20.

At 2/3 the median, if the median is $30, lower-class is $20.

Is there a reason they're tying income classes to people within those classes, and not what it costs to survive within the economy?

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[-] ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

When they say "the lowest 20% of incomes", that's referring to, if you were to plot the incomes of every American on a graph and then drop some dividers down every 20%, the people in the bottom one of those bins. It's not relative to the highest income dollar amount. The wealth inequality in this country is so bad that probably 75-85% of the population is making under 20% of the highest income by pure dollar amount.

this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2026

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