What is the Middle Class?

How do you define the American Middle Class? Is it a certain lifestyle, a set of values, an occupation, an education, an address, or an income range? In this country, it seems almost everyone wants to call themselves Middle Class, even if they make $250,000 a year (which would place them, by the way, in the top 1.5% of all households).

Here is a fact that might surprise some people: in 2007 (the most recent data I can find), the median household income in the United States was $50,233 a year. For those of you that failed statistics, that means half of the households made more than that, and half of the households made less. The median gives a more accurate picture than the average, because it is not skewed by unusually high or low values (outliers like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett). Also, household income is not personal income, and may include two (or more) earners.

In my mind, the term Middle Class paints the following picture:
• Has a respectable career with reasonable job security and the opportunity for advancement
• Owns a home in a safe neighborhood in a good public school district
• Able to feed, clothe, and educate two or three children and provide them with the opportunity to go to college
• Owns one or two cars and popular consumer electronics like televisions and computers
• Does not live paycheck-to-paycheck or fund their lifestyle with debt
• Able to take the family on a modest vacation every other year
• Able to provide decent healthcare for the family
• Able to save enough for a comfortable retirement

Do you think the list above is possible to achieve on a median annual household income of $50,233? Was it possible 30 or 40 years ago?

What does "Middle Class" mean to you?