The median household income in the US is around $52,000. So can households earning twice that much really consider themselves middle class? …

Americans’ conceptions of what it means to be middle class seem to defy logic. But given what the middle-class lifestyle costs, it may be that you simply have to be rich to be middle class in America.

Here’s one fascinating finding: only 1 percent of Americans consider themselves upper class…

Not only that, but a majority of people in households earning $100,000 or more per year consider themselves middle class…

Depending on how you look at it, the numbers can seem downright ridiculous — if you count the upper-middle and lower-middle groups as part of a broader middle, 87 percent of Americans are middle class, leaving very little to be in the middle of.

—Danielle Kurtzleben
Why Do so Many Rich People Consider Themselves “Middle Class?”