Recently, on the Financial Aid listserve,  there was a conversation about identifying “middle class.”  It was a surprisingly brief exchange.  I think, in part, that is because defining “middle class” is a difficult exercise, and because it is steeped in subjectivity and difference of opinion.  Even the Census Bureau doesn’t define it. 

So, how should you define it?  For starters, grab some data:

1. NAIS Demographics Center.  NAIS members and SSS subscribers can access data (for free) from the Demographic Center to see a snapshot of median income of households in a city, state, ZIP code, etc.  Using the Detailed Report, for example, you can find median household incomes easily and see them compared to the national median ($54,180 for 2009).

2. US Census Bureau Income Data.  Perhaps the most objective way to define it is by putting all the households into equal quintiles.  The range of the incomes of the households in the middle third of that distribution is what we call “the statistical middle class.”  These are the people truly in the middle of the income spectrum.  The US Census Bureau does this in a definitive and useful way in its Historical Income Tables.  These data show that the middle-income range for American families in 2008 was $49,326 to $75,000.

3. Ask your families. If you believe that your community is different from the statistical norm, ask the families in your school into what ranges their incomes fall.  Use a parent satisfaction survey every few years to gather income and other demographic information about the respondents.  Identify the middle income range that you want to gauge, and include that as an income choice in a section on family characteristics.  Knowing how many families identify themselves in that range, you’ll have another measure to consider.

The perception of “middle class” is localized, and often personal, making a universal definition elusive.  Independent schools tend to put the middle class somewhere within $120,000-$220,000 range (sometimes the low end is lower, sometimes the high end is higher).  However, any statistical view (of even the highest-cost cities) reveals that families in this range are not middle income.  Yet, it might be true that families in that range sit in the middle of the distribution within a particular school and when surrounded by wealthier families, they do not feel as upper-income as they really are (what we call “the emotional middle class”).  A key question then emerges:  how relative to the population-at-large (statistical), or how relative to the families within your school community (emotional) do you make the issue?

Once you identify your middle income/middle class range, don’t stop there.  Go further to probe your affordability posture more broadly.  Here are some key questions to get you thinking on that path:

– What are the 5- and 10-year trends on your tuition growth and what drives them?
– How much income does a family need to earn in order to pay one tuition at your school?
– How many families in your vicinity earn that much money?
– Is that income in the range of what you consider “middle income”?
– Do those families value the education that you provide to students?

Often, the issue isn’t really about “middle class” but about broader concerns of affordability (i.e., trends in sticker price compared to income change) and family perceptions of value, wherever they are on the income scale.  How families perceive the school’s value is not only about class and income.  It’s really about what they believe the school is about and whether they want to literally ‘buy in.’ Understand what those families value and what they perceive, or know about their options in schooling, not just what makes them “middle class” by definition.