From Derek Thompson of The Atlantic:
In an interview with ABC, Mitt Romney offered his definition of the middle class. “Middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less,” he said.*
Who knows what “middle class” really means. It’s more of a feeling than a statistical definition. But as a matter of arithmetic, it doesn’t make much sense to think of people earning $200,000 as being in the middle of anything, except the top decile of earners. Using data from the Tax Policy Center 2012 projected distribution, here’s a look at the share of American tax units that make less than $200,000. The big blue slice is Romney’s definition of middle class, which in all fairness to him, is more or less shared by the White House.
