You are obviously not familiar with the New York metropolitan area. Any location within a one hour commute of Manhattan has a very high cost of living and very high housing costs. Even a two hour commute doesn't bring a reasonable cost of living and reasonable housing costs. Some of the towns that are a two hour commute are even more expensive than the towns that are only a one hour commute.
Try owning a couple horses and $100K income is down right poor. It's called horse poor. Throw in a teenage daughter or two and we're talking poverty. "Buy Daddy! BUY! Sell Daddy! SELL!" Pony needs new shoes.
Middle Class and Median Income are two entirely different things. The fact is, most Americans are Working Class regardless of their income. Ego prevents them from admitting it.