Think youre middle class Check this chart to find out

Think youre middle class Check this chart to find outThink youre middle class Check this chart to find outAre you in the middle class?You probably think you are, according to new research from the Pew Research Center, but that doesnt necessarily mean youre right. It turns out household size is a major determinativ of status in the lower, middle and upper classes.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraWe plotted family size against the income sortiment required to be in the lower, middle and upper classes, letting you easily see how much money people need to make to be at opposite ends of the income spectrum. And in fact, the size of yur family is directly correlated with how much you need to earn to stay afloat.Things are relatively simple for single working adults with no children. Anyone earning under $34,400 is considered in the lower income range, and anyone making over $103,200 is in the upper class. In reality, much of this depends on where you live and how much debt youre paying off. Does the college grad who makes six figures but lives in a big city with $100,000 of student loan debt feel like he or she is in the upper class? What about the single adult making $90,000 in West Virginia, where the cost of living is cheap? Doesnt that qualify as an upper income? It all depends on the cost of living for where you live in particular.Regardless, our visualization demonstrates that adding more people to your household increases the amount you need to earn to enjoy the same standard of living. Having a child or getting married raises the bar to middle-class entry to $43,693. For a household of 3 people, it goes higher to $50,697. And for two breadwinners and a pair of kids, the level goes even further up to $60,499. In other words, having a second child means you need to earn about $10,000 more just to stay at the same level, much less climb higher.The same thing happens at the opposite end of the income spectrum. The gap between middle- and upper-income households grows the more people join a household. A single adult at the low end of the upper-income range making $103,200 would need to make $131,078 as a household of 2 people to stay at the same level. The amount jumps another $21,000 to $152,092 for households of 3, and an eye-popping $181,496 for a family of 4. That means its harder for well-off people to provide the same standard of living the more children they have, because, well, its so expensive.All of which goes to show the dangers of keeping up with the Joneses. If youre in the upper-income range and you and your spouse decide to have a second child, you dont have to go out and earn another $29,000 just to stay in the same income range. Its perfectly fine to slip into the middle class.Theres a lot more we could say about how the cost of living depends entirely on where you live. Learn more by exploring our interactive calculator .Data Table 1.1This article first appeared on HowMuch.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong peopleThink youre middle class Check this chart to find outAre you in the middle class?You probably think you are, according to new research from the Pew Research Center, but that doesnt necessarily mean youre right. It turns out household size is a major determiner of status in the lower, middle and upper classes.We plotted family size against the income range required to be in the lower, middle and upper classes, letting you easily see how much money people need to make to be at opposite ends of the income spectrum. And in fact, the size of your family is directly correlated with how much you ne ed to earn to stay afloat.Things are relatively simple for single working adults with no children. Anyone earning under $34,400 is considered in the lower income range, and anyone making over $103,200 is in the upper class. In reality, much of this depends on where you live and how much debt youre paying off. Does the college grad who makes six figures but lives in a big city with $100,000 of student loan debt feel like he or she is in the upper class? What about the single adult making $90,000 in West Virginia, where the cost of living is cheap? Doesnt that qualify as an upper income? It all depends on the cost of living for where you live in particular.Regardless, our visualization demonstrates that adding more people to your household increases the amount you need to earn to enjoy the same standard of living. Having a child or getting married raises the bar to middle-class entry to $43,693. For a household of 3 people, it goes higher to $50,697. And for two breadwinners and a pai r of kids, the level goes even further up to $60,499. In other words, having a second child means you need to earn about $10,000 more just to stay at the same level, much less climb higher.The same thing happens at the opposite end of the income spectrum. The gap between middle- and upper-income households grows the more people join a household. A single adult at the low end of the upper-income range making $103,200 would need to make $131,078 as a household of 2 people to stay at the same level. The amount jumps another $21,000 to $152,092 for households of 3, and an eye-popping $181,496 for a family of 4. That means its harder for well-off people to provide the same standard of living the more children they have, because, well, its so expensive.All of which goes to show the dangers of keeping up with the Joneses. If youre in the upper-income range and you and your spouse decide to have a second child, you dont have to go out and earn another $29,000 just to stay in the same income range. Its perfectly fine to slip into the middle class.Theres a lot more we could say about how the cost of living depends entirely on where you live. Learn more by exploring our interactive calculator.Data Table 1.1This article first appeared on HowMuch.