I guess this depends what you mean by issue. One can pay for it but eventually (especially for multiple children) it crowds out other things.
The price forces a consideration of marginal costs and benefits instead of being able to think about it in terms like "my child would be happier here" or "I value education in classics/fine arts/religion/whatever else a private school teaches for non-financial reasons."
I grew up in an upper middle class household, and the vast majority of my cohort in high school were also upper middle class, judging by the professions of their parents and the nature of their homes when I visited for group projects and the like.
Most of the kids took the bus, unless they were old enough to drive themselves.
I was figuring upper middle class was around 2x that (250-400k) in desirable areas like the Bay Area/Seattle/NYC. Which after mortgage/rent, car payments, school fees... still isn't private-limo or even stay-at-home-parent money
> I was figuring upper middle class was around 2x that (250-400k) in desirable areas like the Bay Area/Seattle/NYC. Which after mortgage/rent, car payments, school fees... still isn't private-limo or even stay-at-home-parent money
Nobody said anybody is taking a limo, I have no clue where this straw man obsession of yours even came from.
Depending on which part of the country you’re in, 160k absolutely is stay at home money for the (most likely) wife, who would also be picking up the kid(s). Sure, that isn’t upper middle class money in San Francisco or NYC, but it was surely obvious nobody was saying it was in this context lol.
Legit this thing with you and limos is so weird. You realise limos basically don’t even exist anymore except as a gag for high school proms, right?
> Sure, that isn’t upper middle class money in San Francisco or NYC, but it was surely obvious nobody was saying it was in this context lol
The article is written by the COO of a NYC-based wealth management firm, so it very explicitly is the context.
> Nobody said anybody is taking a limo
"limo" in this context is a shorthand for whatever form of 3rd-party individual transport you choose. Taxis, uber black, or the nanny dropping the kids off at school all work out much the same (albeit the old-money NYC folks are absolutely still rolling with their private drivers)
They're still riding the bus, the only difference is their parents have them wait in the car at the end of the driveway for the bus.
Welcome to the rural upper middle class. Bonus points when the bus lets the parent out onto the road ahead of them after loading their kid onboard the bus.
It's absurd to say the upper middle class doesn't use public transportation. Of course they do. My commute is $8 each way on public transportation and would be significantly worse or more expensive if I drove (traffic) or used Uber. I could afford to live closer to work, but I wouldn't have nearly a nice home or sense of safety for my family. Childcare also is still a major consideration when deciding how many children to have. No one wants to earn upper middle class wages and still end up living paycheck to paycheck.
I also take public transportation into work because parking is expensive and work pays for a commuter card. But for literally everything else I have to drive, even to get to public transportation. It does feel like a upper middle class privilege. If I were poorer I'd be renting close to work to save
> It's absurd to say the upper middle class doesn't use public transportation. Of course they do.
This is maybe only a thing in the handful of US cities with a well-developed subway/tram system? I've not seen many upper middle class folks taking the bus in other US cities
I am not sure where I am on the stack, but I make more than most families in my area and I heavily rely on public transport. It's also why I can afford to a lot of things others cannot -- I am not sinking money into a car payment, car insurance, gas, etc. every month.
Household incomes exceed $100,000 (equivalent to $164,849 in 2025).[5] Professions for this class may include: judges, senior military officers, financial planners, engineers, professors, architects, airline pilots, and businessmen.
How do they pickup their kids towards the end of the workday?
Commute times are a real factor in deciding where to live, and which schools to pick. In the Bay Area, the only real solution is living closer to work, which requires over bidding & selecting private schools if they picked the wrong area.
Why are you using the metropolis with the highest cost of living in the US as some kind of benchmark? SF is an extreme outlier. Why do you keep mentioning it?
Almost everybody who is upper middle class in the US doesn’t live in San Fransisco, so find a better comparator.
Sure, now map that income to transit usage in any major American city that actually has public transit.
Also $160k household can be very different in terms of childcare costs depending on how many people in that household are working, and is an actual problem for double income families with young kids in HCOL areas.
I guess this depends what you mean by issue. One can pay for it but eventually (especially for multiple children) it crowds out other things.
The price forces a consideration of marginal costs and benefits instead of being able to think about it in terms like "my child would be happier here" or "I value education in classics/fine arts/religion/whatever else a private school teaches for non-financial reasons."