Since Vancouver resident Tricia Brandemihl was laid off two years ago from her job as an escrow officer, she and her family have had to cut back on everything from entertainment to health insurance. Since her unemployment benefits expired, the family of four lives off of her husband’s job as a vehicle service adviser.
“We had always been able to put money in an account for our kids’ college, and that has stopped,” Brandemihl said. “We can’t afford it, along with putting money away for retirement. We’ve had to reduce our life insurance. It’s either eat or do these other things.”
Brandemihl sees her family as the quintessential image of the American middle class. Her family’s story of increasing financial struggle is one repeated across the county and nation in discussions between friends and family, media reports, policy making and political debate.
But what exactly is the middle class, and how much of Clark County fits in that category?