Comparing Homer Simpson and America’s Middle Class

If you’re a fan of entertainment favorite The Simpsons, then you probably already know how relatable the family’s daily life struggles are. But, one of the things you may not have thought about is how similar Homer Simpson’s 100 plus jobs for various businesses relate to America’s middle class.

In this video, Vox walks you through an economic analysis of many of the jobs Homer has held at different businesses in the past years, such as a fortune cookie writer, nuclear safety inspector, attack-dog trainer and candle maker. While 13 percent of his jobs paid more than $100,000 dollars, 49 percent placed him in the middle class and 38 percent in the lower class. However, Vox points out that while “Homer’s jobs run the full gamut of the economic spectrum,” his income hasn’t improved, making him “just like the actual American middle class.” Over the course of 597 episodes, from 1989 to 2016, Homer’s economic status remains stagnated without any significant growth.

Vox says, “Despite brief forays into the 1 percent as a top-level executive and a CEO, Homer remains a paradigm of middle class America: Three decades later, he’s right where he started.”