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?

@masomenos Costco and Lidl is where poor people shop? really

It was fine anywhere I have ever lived, which includes both coasts, the mid-west, and the south. But I have never lived anywhere with an HOA that restricts such things.

In some places no. HOAs are pretty famous for this but if hanging laundry is a must have you’re not going to buy a house there. About 30% of Americans live in an HOA.

A lot of HOAs also have rules about fence height so it would most likely be visible to someone.

Again hanging laundry is just not really on a lot of people’s radar. I hang some stuff but I have a couple of lines in the basement where my washer and dryer are, in the winter it dries super quick because of how warm and dry it is. In the summer it takes a bit longer but it’s not a big deal.

For me it would be more of a pain in the ass to schlep it out to the backyard hang it and bring it in.

I don’t like the goofy rules of HOAs so would never buy a house with one. But if you do you are agreeing to their rules.

They live on the wrong side of 8 Mile

A lot of anon4net’s post is very accurate in my experience too.

I work in a public-facing organization. Our location means we cover some of the wealthiest areas of the city, and some of the poorest. It’s also a very military town (several bases in the vicinity), very religious, and very Republican. I’ve encountered people who refuse to speak to me again after I said I didn’t attend church. There is a tendency towards larger families, starting them young, mothers not working or socializing outside their church, or military cohort. A lot of the husbands are officers in the military. In these areas, education is expected (but teachers are expected to live on thin air!) and the military is a choice.

The poorer areas in this city tend to have more complicated family setups, broken pavements, lots of vape shops, run down properties. There are some I would not drive through during the day, never mind at night, because of the violence. For many young people the military is their only escape route. The people I see in work from these communities often have dreadful teeth, unkempt, sometimes mental health issues. They are also frequently the kindest people I deal with.

@saltinesandcoffeecups

I have one in my hall closet and a few in my basement I can send one over if I ever get around to replacing them 🤷‍♀️.

Or you can buy one on Amazon 🙂

I stand corrected then (and obviously behind the times).😁👍🏻😁

However, I’d prefer to dress as if I’d come out of the toddler’s dressing up box in winter w/o light than order from Amazon. I can’t claim never to have used Amazon but putting money thru to Bezos (and ergo Trump) is very good reason for avoiding Amazon.

See: It’s Ok to hate Capitalism by Bernie Sanders, bought in Waterstones, I hasten add.

I don’t think Bezos has donated to Trump, in case that relieves yourself from Amazon guilt.

A PP thinks this is ridiculous, but it's actually very realistic as far as my observations go.

The long, cold hand of the prosperity gospel has a grip on a big section of the population, especially in the south and parts of the Union that are rural. It begets magical thinking, and fundamentalist religious beliefs make for some interesting ideas around gender roles. The Red Peril is very much alive and kicking in their minds.

Military recruitment has its plusses and minuses. On the one hand it is exploitative, and on the other, it genuinely offers a respectable career, technical training, references, often preferential employment opportunities in state services including state police after you leave the services, and the VA health, education, and retirement benefits are huge.

In addition, joining ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) means you get through university for free with a certain number of years of service after graduation and commitment to being an active reservist. You graduate university and get a commission as a Lieutenant on the same day.

It's more like Walmart. It's often the only game in town, especially in rural areas.

Walmart isn't so bad. It's one-stop shopping for everything you could conceivably need.

The Responder addresses that very well.

Young Sheldon's family?? i think they are working class, i cant remember what the mum does but the dad was a football coach and they talked about money or the lack of it a lot.

The Middle family!

Along with the big houses, I’ve also noticed ‘poor’ people tucking into steaks on these shows. Is meat a lot cheaper in the USA? People on the breadline don’t tend to be buying fillet steak.

She worked for the Church pastor.

I love Walmart.

British son and American dil in upmarket Long Island 'burb. It has been 'suggested' to them that their expensively landscaped front garden is not expensively landscaped enough. Also it has been noticed that they are the only house on the street without a flagpole and American flag. As a result they are thinking of moving further along to part of the Hamptons where plenty of British live, and it's less judgemental.

See also Chicago blue collar accents, Hispanic accents, Italian-American accents, Polish-Americans, and more.

I would never shop at Walmart. I'm glad I have never lived anywhere that had only a Walmart and no other options.

@couldvbeenworse Oh Yes she did, didn't she..thank you. So does that make them working or middle? i think the scriptwriters were definitely intending to portray them as 'working class', they certainly didnt have the shiny lawn but their home was 'decent' or 'respectable' but without everything matching and they had an old jallopy.

I hardly ever line dry. I work 52 hrs a week and my DD27 is neurodivergent and does not like the feel of line dried. Having said that we create about 4 loads a week max inc bedding and towels. My electric bill is £65 a month.

I'm not lazy.

I wouldn’t shop there if I lived in America. But going there, things were so cheap. And things we do not have here, so much choice (cough mixture I wouldn’t even get going to the doctor here after coughing nonstop for three weeks).

But the downside is that in the end we wouldn’t want most things here, as they contain so much dangerous crap. Food, drinks, makeup, medicines and clothes. Substances that are forbidden here for a very good reason.

Walmart would be a dream for some poor people. One of the big problems for poor people in the US is they are in "food deserts" and generally only have access to corner stores, etc (which are much more expensive).

Definition of "food desert": A food desert is a geographic area where residents have limited access to healthy and affordable food, especially fresh fruits and vegetables. These areas are often found in low-income communities, particularly communities of color

Bus trips can be quite hair-raising, depending on the neighborhoods they traverse, but the same goes for cities everywhere. There are parts of Dublin I wouldn't travel through on a bus.

It’s such a good show. I don’t think she worked there all the time. Their home was ok though, tidy.

"Good Times" portrayed a low income, working class family. They lived in a 2 bedroom apartment, parents had one and daughter had the other; the two sons had to sleep on the sofa bed. They talked about money issues all the time.