Fox 31 Denver picked up a Nexstar/The Hill piece reporting that, according to an analysis by MoneyLion using Pew Research Center’s middle-class framework, a household income of $100,000 or more can still land a family in the “lower-middle class” category in a dozen states. Colorado made the list, because apparently six figures now gets you a participation ribbon and a grocery receipt that looks like a ransom note.
The article says Colorado’s top income for the lower-middle-class range is $107,903, putting us eighth nationally behind states like Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, California, New Hampshire, and Washington. That means a family can do what used to sound like “making it” and still feel like they are one busted water heater away from financial DEFCON 2.
The Bullet Point Brief
- The article says a six-figure income used to mean “rich.” Now, in Colorado, it can mean “congratulations, you may proceed directly to the budget spreadsheet.”
- MoneyLion used Pew’s definition of middle class: households earning between two-thirds and double the state median income. Then it identified the lower third of that middle-class range. Because nothing says American Dream like needing a calculator, a think tank, and a mild panic attack to know whether you are doing okay.
- Colorado’s lower-middle-class ceiling came in at $107,903. That is not Monopoly money. That is a real household income, and somehow it now comes with the emotional support coupon book.
- The article points to housing, childcare, groceries, and “just about everything” as reasons families feel squeezed. That phrase is doing a lot of work, kind of like the average Colorado family trying to pay the mortgage, fill the tank, and buy eggs without taking out a bridge loan.
- The suggested escape hatch is moving to cheaper states in the South or Midwest. Which is one way to solve Colorado’s affordability problem: tell the people who built lives here to go live somewhere else. Brilliant. Someone get the bureaucracy a juice box.
My Bottom Line
When Julie and I were first married, we used to say, “If we can just both make $30,000 a year, we’ll be fine.” That was the mountain we were climbing. We made it. Then we passed it. By every measure, we have been blessed far beyond that number and far beyond the $100,000 mentioned in this article.
And yet, like a lot of families, there are still days when it feels like we are barely getting by. Part of that is on us. We are Americans. We do not always live small. We like our comforts, our conveniences, our subscriptions, our trucks, our kids’ activities, our Amazon boxes, and our ability to pretend DoorDash is not a financial crime scene. Some of this is a mindset problem, and we need to be honest about that.
But let’s not let the system off the hook either. Our parents and grandparents raised families on far less, and no, it was not because they had secret financial powers handed down by the Greatest Generation. It was because the basics were more basic. Housing did not require a blood oath. Groceries did not make you stare at the receipt like it had insulted your mother. Government did not treat every family budget like an untapped revenue pond waiting for another regulation, fee, tax, mandate, and “temporary” program that somehow outlives three governors and a fax machine.
The word “economy” comes from Greek roots tied to the management of the household. In plain English, it is supposed to serve the family. Somewhere along the way, we flipped that around. Now families serve the economy, the lenders, the bureaucrats, the planners, the consultants, and the political class that keeps explaining how much they care while making daily life more expensive. Colorado needs a priority check. So do the people. So does the government. A healthy economy is not one where a family earning $100,000 feels rich on paper and broke by Thursday. A healthy economy is one where work, thrift, family, and common sense can still build a life without needing a second job, a third app, and a spreadsheet blessed by an accountant.
Source: Fox 31 Denver
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