An Engineer and the Middle Class

So an article came out on Lifehacker which shows what the upper and lower bounds of the “middle class” are per state.

Since there isn’t a formal definition of middle class, but commonly used to described those who are self-reliant, this is kind of murky ground.

So for a mechanical engineer, say in Dearborn, Michigan, the average salary is $64k according to Salary.com.  While the Lifehacker article shows that the upper and lower bounds of the middle class are $32k to $96k.

Based on this for better or worse, the mechanical engineer in Dearborn is exactly the middle of the middle class.

We’ll draw some conclusions on this in the near future (cost of living, cost of becoming an engineer, etc.)

What are your thoughts?