Lots of good things come in the middle, like the ice cream part of an ice cream sandwich.
If you think of San Diego like an ice cream sandwich, and San Diego’s middle class as the ice cream in the middle, it’s not hard to imagine the middle being squeezed out (or melted away) by the heated housing market of a few years ago, the recent price declines and the other cost-of-living pressures here.
In fact, some recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that the upper class ($75,000-plus) and the lower class ($39,999 and below) each made up 36 percent of the San Diego economic scene, the middle class was the smallest group, at 28 percent. Some call this the “hourglass economy.”
Check out this story from The New York Times called “Cities Shed Middle Class, and Are Richer and Poorer for It” for more about this issue in other metropolitan areas.
I’m working on a story this week about this issue in San Diego. If you’re feeling stuck in the middle, if you know of a middle-class family who left the city because of these pressures, if you’re thinking about leaving – or, if you have found a way to hold on, I’d love to hear from you. Click on my name below to send me an e-mail.