How can you tell if Americans are "poor"?

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Like most of us I watch quite a bit of US drama and box sets but remain baffled about the characters based on things like the house they live in etc...

Can American audiences tell that someone is poor or rich (or in between) based on things such as house size, style of house and other things that are part of TV series?

I know (well think I do so not assuming - please correct if wrong!) that middle and working class may mean different things to UK - but can US viewers pick up more based on cultural norms and things that may need explaining to non-American audiences?

An example is I watched some episodes of True Detective and thought the house was lovely and spacious but everything else in the plot pointed to the fact that this was a "poor rundown neighbourhood with substance issues etc..."

Are there any rules of thumb? Do American audiences get confused my things like this when watching UK or European dramas?

Hanging up washing outside is seen as very déclassé in America.

My mother in law has an Aunt who lives in Canada, and while my m-i-l was visiting, she wanted to help out with the housework.

My mil wanted to hang the washing up outside, and her cousin was horrified, and hastily put it all in the dryer.
My mil was incredibly embarrassed by the whole thing - her face and neck flushed while she was telling me the story.

They sound like they were an incredible couple.
I would like to have met them.

Basically all of them were middle class. Niles and Fraser vs. Martin was a comedy about taste as a marker of a sense of self, with Niles and Fraser taking it on the chin. They came out second in the argument about the chair, an episode that was about neurosis and pretentiousness, which are not the same as class. Class touches on it, but there is a far wider cultural and psychological context. The chair was an insult to Fraser's sense of self.

A football coach would earn a certain amount on top of his salary for coaching.

Teachers in my local public high school get $10k on top of their salaries to lead an extra curricular club or coach a sport. Local teachers' base salaries are excellent; it's a well-off district.

Young Sheldon is set a few decades ago, and things have changed over the intervening years. Even with a generous 'main' salary, the expectation is strong that each partner will have the best paying job they can get.

The football coaching is symbolic of anti intellectualism and old-fashioned American machismo, on the same lines as Martin's cultural reference points in Fraser. It's a kind of trope (you see it in Al Bundy too) in American comedies.

You can get really cheap rates during the occasional sale. Lots of people go to Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Barbados... There are multiple resort or accommodation choices to suit many budgets. People who couldn't afford five days to a week in Jamaica couldn't afford a road trip either - petrol and accommodation along the highway are not cheap.

Americans visit Mexico in droves. You don't need to spend a lot to go to Cancun on Spring Break or for a hen do or just for a few days.

"Class touches on it, but there is a far wider cultural and psychological context. The chair was an insult to Fraser's sense of self."

He also didn't want the chair there because he didn't want other people to see it.
It's not just the chair. It's all of the brothers' hobbies, opera, concerts, etc. while Martin does completely different things. I know they're pretentious snobs as part of their personalities, much more so than Frasier was in Cheers, but I just can't see how class doesn't come into it, unless you're just arguing that in the US class is only about money and not at all about lifestyle, etc.

"The football coaching is symbolic of anti intellectualism and old-fashioned American machismo"

Sheldon's father was not anti-intellectual at all. He's not intellectual himself, or at least doesn't show it, but is very supportive of Sheldon. He throws Georgie out for leaving school before 18.

"People who couldn't afford five days to a week in Jamaica couldn't afford a road trip either - petrol and accommodation along the highway are not cheap."

That reminds me of some British people who say 'people can't afford foreign holidays' when flights to other countries are cheaper than a train to another part of the UK.

The New York Times seems to agree with those of us who class difference as a big part of Frasier
TELEVISION; Yes, America Has a Class System. See 'Frasier.' - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Wow, that looks so green and leafy- and well kept!- compared to the scuzzier areas of, say, London- or even Plymouth, the city I know best of recent years. The only signifier of poverty I see there is all the people on the streets (not necessarily a bad thing, depends on what they're doing), and the fact that they are all- without exception- black.

I also think that that video was so interesting and a real eye opener . The area does look very leafy and the buildings seem solidly built. (can't see inside of course). In London or most large cities that would be a naace gentrified area, and the properties would be ££££!

You can only tell it's not posh from the sort of garish signs on the shops (discounts etc) and also quite a bit of rubbish (trash!) left on the roadside, overflowing bins etc.

Many of Chicago's "bad" neighbourhoods were once "nice" areas. They're badly off now because of the effects of deindustrialization and segregation/white flight.

this is true of some of NYC's poorer neighbourhoods, but there, a poor area is more likely to be a housing project or older, lower quality apartment buildings. The ones that were well built and then declined are now gentrifying again.

Thanks to @saltinesandcoffeecups for originally posting the video. A real glimpse into everyday life in the USA, which you don't tend to get in TV dramas (usually).

Ah this clears up my confusion over the larger houses in US Shameless. Obviously they looked run down, and the interiors were cheap but I’d forgotten that land isn’t such an issue in some places.

Frasier is about class to a certain extent, but they are all still middle class. There are differences in taste, for sure, with Martin having what some of us would call "bush league" tastes. Martin's wife was a psychiatrist and their sons went to private school (several references to that in various episodes). The family was solidly middle class, but with different interests and tastes. The divisions are more about intellectual vs. not-so-intellectual, divisions which exist across social class in the US.

Niles married a wealthy woman, whom we never saw, who might qualify as "upper class," but when they separated, Niles had to move into a decidedly down-market apartment.

That'll be because the car-brained Tories were cutting Air Passenger Duty at the same time as hiking rail fares well above inflation. Manchester to London costs silly money at peak time, but Sunak cancelled the project that would have doubled capacity and therefore cut fares.

But then the US has "Project 2025" (who Trump claims not to be involved with, but we all know about his relationship with the truth) that wants to cut funding for public transport in favour of cars.

"That'll be because the car-brained Tories were cutting Air Passenger Duty at the same time as hiking rail fares well above inflation."

Only to an extent because this problem is the same in other European countries. Flights are usually cheaper than long/medium rail journeys even when the rail companies are partly state owned.

I lived in Chicago for many years and that was definitely not what my everyday life was like. I did live in a completely different area though that had been a bad neighbourhood in the 1960/1970s.

I have lived in Chicago as well, with very different experiences. It was some time ago, though.

“"People who couldn't afford five days to a week in Jamaica couldn't afford a road trip either - petrol and accommodation along the highway are not cheap."

Petrol in the US is 1/4th the price it is in the U.K.
It is much more affordable.
And poor US families don’t use accommodation on road trips.

• rural area- they pull over at a picnic area and sleep in the car or put up a tent.
• city- they park up at a Walmart and sleep in the car

I live in the US.

I'm aware of the difference in petrol prices between the UK and US. It is still expensive in the US for people on a low income. It's currently $4.25 a gallon in the area where I live. Maybe that's cheaper than Dublin prices per litre, but it's still expensive to fill up your jalopy if your American income isn't high.

You can not park up in a Walmart parking lot anywhere near where I live (major urban area). Walmart security will call local police and you will be moved on. No cars, RVs, or semis can park overnight. Whether you can spend the night in a Walmart carpark depends entirely on local regs and on the policy of the individual Walmart.

You would have to have a tent in order to put one up at a very rare picnic area, and there are precious few picnic areas in many states. Pulling over and pitching a tent would be downright dangerous unless you fancied your chances against snakes or other wildlife. Pulling over at the side of the highway or onto private land and pitching a tent ("boondocking") is also illegal in most states. Pitching a tent anywhere you feel like doing so on public lands may or may not be allowed either. You can sleep in your car in some states - states have their own laws wrt highways, speed limits, etc.

Class is primarily about money in the US. Class in the UK has a lot to do with caste.

I've sat in baseball stadiums eating hot dogs from the vendors with people who run law firms, banks, etc. We all stood up for the seventh inning stretch, sang the seventh inning stretch song, sat down again, and continued eating and slurping the beers bought before the stretch, from red solo cups. None of them ever made any bones about humble origins they might have had, or ignominious starts to their careers. One bank CEO started out as a repo man and had lots of interesting stories. The difference between the people I've sat with and others at baseball games is season tickets and nice seats, but they would have fit in anywhere in the stadium with their shorts and Tshirts and baseball caps and even the odd drop of mustard on their sneakers.

Yes, they can afford the sort of lifestyle many would envy - houses, trips, any car they wanted, ability to write a cheque to their children's universities and no worries about financial aid or taking out loans. But they might not give a toss about opera or the sort of furniture the Crane brothers liked.

Money buys whatever lifestyle you fancy. Nobody will turn up their nose at you because you grew up in a modest house and your parents struggled.

No

you can’t just stay wherever you want overnight. Best case scenario you get moved along.

tents are typically restricted to campsites or public lands that allow camping. Permits are often required.

rv’s have to have permission to park overnight which means paying site fees.

there is an entire fringe culture of people who try to get away with sleeping on the road and not getting caught. It isn’t something your average family is going to do on a holiday.