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I don't know. All the guys in my shop earn more than me, and have wives who work and so their joint family incomes (roughly 30k + 30k) would be exactly between the 50k-75k range. On the other hand they all have giant debts anywhere from 20k or more, run out on houses, cars, and medical bills. They also have extended families, kids under 16 and parents over 75 with giant medical bills. They are living in a strange nomansland where they look prosperous on paper but live in what I would call quasi-poverty or what used be called working class lives: living in small run down houses or apartments, month to month, a few steps ahead of some collection agency.
I've decided that income stats don't lie, but they don't give a full view of conditions either. They are a peculiar slice of reality. Sure 60k should be plenty provided you are not in debt, you live a spartan existence, and both you and your family are completely healthy. How many Americans can make those claims? Damned few.
Amazingly, I am the only one in the whole business who is not in debt, more or less healthy and has no family. I think the take home message is get rid of the family. They are obviously the source of all debt, disease, and depression.
Chuck Grimes