Black Middle Class

The Black community has 3 basic tiers. Tier one is the upper class, elite African Americans. This group consists of CEO's, business owners, and other executives who have broken through the glass ceiling to become a success in Corporate America. The second tier is the working class African Americans. This tier encompasses your average African American family, with a working mother and father, or perhaps a single mother, going out working and raising children. These families may have a good income but the majority live from paycheck to pay check. The working class tier is where the majority of African Americans lie. The last sector is the poor. This section contains families, who live on or below the poverty line, and barely make it from day to day. The one tier that the Black community does not seem to have like other races have is the middle class. Due to stereotyping have African Americans and ranges in income between African Americans in this country and the higher range in salary of the majority group, the African Americans seem to have no middle class in comparison. Although the Black community does not seem to have a middle class, many are convinced that there is a Black middle class; however it just lies unacknowledged because of its differences.

The Black middle class is not necessarily a myth but is a construct that is under much scrutiny. Certainly, with the comparison of the annual GDP of a Black family compared to a white family it is apparent that the Black "middle class" is on a lower standard that the white middle class is. The annual income of Black households is about 33,700 dollars while the average White household income is about 35,000 (Census, 2004)

Suburbia...most comfortable place...and most debated

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