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I think it's mostly income. A lower class is something like $10-20k. So if someone is making $50k a year he/she is considered middle class. Region-based incomes don't necessarily come into play and here's why: wages/salaries are usually reflected upon the area in which a person works. So let's take for example CA. A house in Sacramento is cheaper than here because there are less jobs there and there aren't as many people. Thus when there are job openings, the hourly wage is lower than in cities like Cupertino.
The standards of living are the still the same because it's not like McDonald's in Sactown is cheaper or more expensive than say in San Francisco. The cost of living is the same for both cities are virtually the same. I mean it's not like a person making $50k in cupertino (considered middle class) is all of a sudden in upper class in Sacramento.
As for lifestyle, well that's just personal preferences. If you're making $50k a year and spends $48k on stuff it doesn't mean that you're in the lower class. It just means you need to stop spending money on stuff you don't need. I mean if you're making $50k a year and spends $1,000 on a car lease every month, that doesn't mean you're poor. It just means that you're spending lavishly and probably are living above your means. While some people would argue that $20,000 a year is middle class in some areas, I don't believe that's true. I mean yes you can live on $20k a year but that's sure as hell not middle class. I don't care what your standards of living are or which area of the country you live in, $20k a year is not middle class. Even if you don't eat anything all year to save that $20k to spend on other stuff, it does not make you upper class.
So yeah, I think the separations between the classes are based on incomes and not much else. There was a thread a while back on how most Costco members are middle class customers. Guess what they based that on? That's right, income!
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