Life in the Big Apple: Where Did the Middle Class Go?

April 23, 2015 — It is the best of times, it is the worst of times, it is the tale of one city, and the tale of the two socioeconomic classes that inhabit it. The 1 percent has arrived in Manhattan. The luxury condo is rising up everywhere you turn. The chasm between rich and poor, the haves and have-nots, is growing. How much? Brickunderground reports that at "a recent Symposium on Inequality at New York Law School, sociologist Andrew Beveridge, who's the co-founder of data site Social Explorer, revealed that [Manhattan] now holds the distinction of being the 'most unequal county' (of counties with more than 100,000 residents) in the country." CityLab crunched the numbers and if we examine Beveridge's findings, we'll find that the top 20 percent of earners make — sit down — 43 times what the bottom 20 percent makes. And that bottom 20 percent is vying for spots in buildings with so-called poor doors. It's like a postmodern Dickensian story.