$51,865

WNYC radio recently did a great series of reports called "Life in the Middle" where the median income is the exact same as the city's overall median income of $51,865.

The reporters visited five different neighborhoods, one in each borough, and profiled people and families that are trying to remain in the middle class in NYC. Their challenges basically come down to strict economics: struggling to afford rising rents and the cost of living while resisting the waves of gentrification that are making their neighborhoods less affordable.  These aren't people trying to get rich nor are they part of the 47% that Mitt Romney disparaged last year as moochers who feel entitled to be taken care of. These are very hard working people who are simply trying to maintain a way of life that they love in a city that they love.

The neighborhoods profiled are Woodlawn-Wakefield in the Bronx, Central Harlem in Manhattan, Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, North Carona in Queens, and Grasmere-Arrochar-Ft. Wadsworth in Staten Island.

None of these neighborhoods are hip or trendy -- yet. But, increasingly more and more white, well-educated, upper income people are moving in. Will these middle class neighborhoods in NYC still be middle class a decade from now? Only time will tell. Yet it's good to know that there are still some havens for the middle class left in NYC.