Commentary: Is $140,000 really a poverty income? Clearly not, but the viral debate underscores the 'affordability' issue

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On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, a wealth manager named Michael Green published a Substack post arguing that a $140,000 income is the new poverty level for a family of four in America, where the official poverty line is $32,150.The post promptly went viral.One would hope that economic commentators coast-to-coast mentioned Green as their “person I’m most thankful for” at their family gatherings that week, because he gave them something to masticate ever since.On the spectrum from left to right, countless pundits have rerun Green’s numbers to deride or validate his argument.

It is jarring that in one of the richest countries in the world, one-third of the middle class does not make enough to afford basic necessities.— Stephens and Perry, Brookings“The whole thing doesn’t pass the smell test,” asserted centrist economist Noah Smith in a very lengthy rebuttal.On the other side, Tom Levenson, who teaches science writing at MIT, gave us a Bluesky thread in which he noted that “$140,000 in many urban areas in the US is a family income that is at least precarious, and at worst, one or two missed paychecks from having to make rent-or-food choice.” Green has asserted that the response to his post has been “massively favorable.” That isn’t my impression, but leave it aside.Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy.Here’s my quick take: Green made a category error (and a rhetorical blunder) by hanging his argument on the concept of “poverty”; that’s the claim that most of his critics focus on.

His real argument, however, concerns the concept of affordability.Indeed, in a follow-up post he redefined his argument as applying to “the hidden precarity for many American families.”We can stipulate that making $140,000 a poverty standard is absurd.

Even in a high-...