The comment sections of TikTok’s “middle class house tours” showcase countless Americans engaged in disputes over what constitutes the middle class in 2025. Widely shared videos depicting ordinary residences are igniting comment threads brimming with fervent discussions, as participants offer their views on income benchmarks, dwelling dimensions, domestic challenges, and personal habits. Participants confidently identify themselves as either “lower middle class,”, “middle middle class,”, or “upper middle class”—yet the commentary underscores intense disagreements regarding individuals' actual positions on the financial spectrum.
TL;DR
- TikTok "middle class house tours" spark debates on income, home size, and habits.
- Many Americans are uncertain about class distinctions due to rising costs and stagnant earnings.
- Income benchmarks for middle class are seen as outdated, with $50/hour cited as new standard.
- Homeownership is increasingly difficult, impacting traditional middle-class wealth accumulation.
Certain observers believe the residences featured appear wealthier than their own circumstances, sparking discussion about whether the creator genuinely represents the middle class or, as one individual remarked, “upper class hiding behind modest decor.” Content providing authentic views of worn baseboards, eclectic furnishings, and basic window coverings is praised by those who feel online platforms are otherwise saturated with aspirational opulence. Conversely, some argue that middle-class status shouldn't be exclusively judged by outward signs, considering variations in regional expenses and economic shifts.
A clear new perspective emerges on the widespread bewilderment regarding social strata in 2025. A significant number of individuals in the United States appear truly uncertain about the distinctions between various class levels, or the position of their own family within them. This uncertainty is amplified by variations in living expenses nationwide and evolving economic standards, a result of ongoing inflation and stagnant earnings.
No Consensus on income
A growing number of individuals in the United States contend that the income levels considered indicative of middle-class standing are out of sync with current circumstances. Although the Pew Research Center establishes the middle class as earning between two-thirds and twice the median household income—a range that can fluctuate across U.S. Metropolitan regions from approximately $53,000 to $161,000 per year—a widely shared TikTok video recently showcased a content creator stating, “$50 an hour is the new middle class,” illustrating how escalating expenses have altered public viewpoints. Given that the median household income is projected to reach roughly $83,000 by September 2025, and continues to rise as inflation drives up domestic expenditures, any inhabitant of California or Massachusetts will confirm that the benchmark for middle-class classification is even more substantial, and a residence that appears affluent in one state might be considered merely middle class in another.
As an increasing number of Americans utilize TikTok to document—and discuss—their experiences of middle-class existence, viewpoints continue to diverge. Certain users contend that “middle class” represents an ideal that is becoming harder to achieve, a feeling amplified by property showcases that appear distant from what most households can manage. Conversely, others feel the designation ought to evolve to signify ease and security, despite stagnant earnings and the challenging pursuit of owning a home.
The ‘Average Home Tour’ trend
A wave of content creators are responding to the pressure to show off spotless homes by filming unvarnished “average” or “normal” house tours. These videos highlight the mundane details and minor imperfections of a lived-in space—pantry doors left unfinished, creative workarounds for broken blinds, and evidence of daily chaos in the form of junk drawers and cluttered countertops. The creators’ message is clear: being middle class is less about perfection and more about making do, sharing moments of love and memory, and managing the squeeze of costs that leave little room for luxury.
Although headline inflation figures have shown some improvement, everyday expenses continue to escalate, and the accumulated rise in prices has become a lasting hardship for numerous families. Earnings have not matched these increases, resulting in JPMorgan Institute recently finding real income expansion reaching its most sluggish pace since the Great Recession. Concurrently, the wealthiest Americans have experienced an increase in their net worth owing to the appreciation of assets. While the wealthiest 10% are able to manage increased housing expenses and maintain their non-essential purchases, many within the so-called middle class are reducing their spending, feeling pressured by the growing costs of food, utilities, and shelter.
Coins2Day’s recent article profiling author and Ritholtz Wealth COO Nick Maggiulli underscores how the composition of assets (companies and equities compared to vehicles and residences), a struggling property sector with an unprecedented number of affluent tenants, and a generational shift of fortunes are altering the definition of affluence in tangible and emotional ways. Maggiulli presents his “Wealth Ladder” model and “the new economic classes” of the United States. He categorizes individuals in the U.S. Into six financial tiers and draws attention to the swift ascent—and increasing unease—of those he terms “level 4”: the upper-middle-class individual who possesses significant paper wealth but lacks a corresponding sense of financial security. UBS refers to this phenomenon as the “everyday millionaire.”
Maggiulli contended that “something weird’s going on” since individuals who are demonstrably highly accomplished appear to have difficulty relishing the rewards of their efforts. “They’ve done well in life … but on a relative basis in the United States, the competition for these higher-end goods is very high, so now it feels like we’re all canceling each other out with all this extra wealth.” An economic system not designed for a substantial number of prosperous families is experiencing pressure due to heightened rivalry for limited luxury items, residences, and desirable lifestyle benefits, causing many statistically affluent families to feel constrained instead of stable. In the present-day United States, he further noted, “the poor own cars, the middle class own homes, and the rich own businesses.” Visualizations of homes commonly seen on TikTok indicate that residences belonging to the middle class present a different appearance and sensation than many anticipate.
Maggiulli’s generalization assumes that the middle class can even afford to buy a home, and some top housing CEOs say that’s no sure thing these days. The Amherst Group CEO Sean Dobson, one of America’s biggest institutional landlords, recently told the ResiDay conference in New York that “we’ve probably made housing unaffordable for a whole generation of Americans” with our recent economic policies. The math suggests to Amherst that, with the median homebuyer now 40 years old and the median home price around $400,000, affordability would require home prices to fall by more than a third, interest rates fall by around 4.6% or income to increase by about 55%.
“What are our goals?” Dobson asked Coins2Day hypothetically, on the sidelines of the conference. “Is our goal to get everyone long real estate? Or is our goal to get everybody to live where their kids can go [to a good school] and be successful?” He said there’s a big, glaring problem for the traditional driver of middle-class wealth: “In reality, the problem is that homeownership is too difficult to reach, and there aren’t enough homes – across all types and price points – to meet consumer needs.”
