In our exclusive poll of 10 metro Atlanta counties, we offered respondents six statements and asked: Do you agree that this statement describes a middle-class value?

So have a look. Here are the six statements (in no particular order). Middle class people . . .

  • live a religious lifestyle.
  • get married before having children.
  • keep up their homes to the same standard as their neighbors.
  • work hard to get ahead.
  • stay out of trouble with the law.
  • save money to send their kids to college.

How would you rank those statements? Which of them is first for you?

Find out how your neighbors came down on these questions in Part 4 of our special series "The Riddle of the Middle."

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

Credit: NYT