MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Middle class family in Seattle makes $102K, according to new data

Mar 20, 2015, 12:20 PM | Updated: 1:28 pm

If you discount San Jose, which includes Silicon Valley where 13 percent of families made $250,000 ...

If you discount San Jose, which includes Silicon Valley where 13 percent of families made $250,000 or more, Seattle is the city with the richest middle class population. (AP)

(AP)

The Seattle area has one of the nation’s richest middle class, according to new data.

NPR analyzed data that shows the average middle class family in Seattle made $102,000 in 2013.

Compare that to San Francisco at $96K and San Jose at $103K. If you discount San Jose, which includes Silicon Valley where 13 percent of families made $250,000 or more, Seattle is the city with the richest middle class population.

On the low end of the spectrum, Detroit middle class families made $30K and Cleveland families $32K. The national average was $64K.

NPR focuses on the nation’s 30 most populous cities in two years ago and the government definition of families, which is households with two or more people related by birth, marriage or adoption.

Meanwhile, a recent Brookings Institution study shows households in the 95th percentile, also known as the rich folks, had a near 15 percent increase from 2012 to 2013 or $241,944 to $278,084, according to GeekWire’s analysis.

The same study shows incomes among the bottom 20 percent of households saw an increase of 1.1 percent over the same time period, which has drawn the conclusion that the rich are getting richer and the poor aren’t doing much.

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