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Money Guy Show

Are You Middle Class In Your State? (And Why It Doesn’t Matter)

Money Guy Show

Brian Preston, CPA, CFP®, PFS and Bo Hanson, CFA, CFP® | Fee-Only Fiduciary Advisors

Education, Investing, Business

4.73.1K Ratings

🗓️ 20 August 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What does it take to be “middle class” in your state? From Mississippi’s $49K to Maryland’s $90K, the income range might surprise you. But here’s the bigger truth: labels don’t create wealth, behaviors do. We break down the data, reveal the three key ingredients to wealth building, walk through the Financial Order of Operations, and answer your biggest money questions on mortgages, car buying, and life insurance. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jump start your journey with our FREE financial resources⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reach your goals faster with our products⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Take the relationship to the next level: become a client⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube for early access and go beyond the podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Connect with us on social media for more content⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bring confidence to your wealth building with simplified strategies from The Money Guy. Learn how to apply financial tactics that go beyond common sense and help you reach your money goals faster. Make your assets do the heavy lifting so you can quit worrying and start living a more fulfilled life. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠NordVPN.com/MONEYGUY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:05.7

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0:11.2

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0:16.5

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0:22.2

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0:30.3

This episode is presented by eBay. Rob, everyone loves a deal and a bargain from time to time,

0:37.3

don't they?

0:57.2

Absolutely, mate. And do you know where you can grab a great deal? Talk to me. Where? The eBay app. Yes, you are correct. You didn't need to talk to me. I already knew it. I love eBay. When you're buying, you can discover loads of hidden gems. There's so many items where you think I would have never found that anywhere else. Then when you're selling, it's so simple and most importantly, free.

0:57.2

It's free, free.

0:58.1

It's free, Rob.

1:02.4

When it's this easy to sell for free and there's great deals on things you love,

1:04.2

you can't help but say when it's eBay.

1:20.1

It excludes vehicles and business sellers. Have you ever been curious, what's middle income or middle class by state?

1:26.8

Brent, I am so excited to talk about this because today we hear this all the time.

1:29.3

We hear middle class, middle class. And we're going to talk about by state what it actually takes to fall into that category. You may be

1:35.5

surprised because honestly, the range was different than I guessed it would have been. And it's like

1:41.5

most things financial. It depends on where you live. That's right.

1:46.4

Actually, we pulled this data from visual capitalists and smart asset. But look at this. You can

1:52.7

compare and contrast. There is a broad difference here. If I look at who's the lowest, Mississippi,

1:58.6

49,000. If you look at the highest, now there's a few that were in the $90,000 range, but the highest, according to the stats, was Maryland right at $90,000.

2:08.6

And if you look at the average across all 50 states, it comes in right at $69,000 to be labeled middle class.

2:17.0

So ranging from as low as Mississippi to as high as

...

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