Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Jordan Kohler of Cameron Park, Calif., says he's doing "just fine," living on an income level just below the national houseold median of $50,000 a year.

For Jordan Kohler, 29, living on an income that is slightly lower than the nation’s household median of $50,000 is fine so far.

“I’ve just been doing it for a couple of months, and it’s working out,” he said.

The experience is new because Kohler recently split up from his wife, and they are now in the process of divorcing, he said. That will leave him supporting himself on just one income.

On Tuesday, Kohler was at a legal aid clinic in Placerville, Calif., trying to figure out how to complete the divorce amicably without running up a high legal tab, he said.

We met Kohler while traveling through California for our series of stories on what it’s like to live on the nation’s household median income of about $50,000 a year.

Kohler said he likes his job as a technical consultant with a major electronics retailer, especially since it offers great health benefits for himself and his kids, who are 7 and 2. 

He recently moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Cameron Park, near Placerville. Although the divorce has been difficult, he said he’s grateful to have a steady income that is enough to live on.

“That helps out a lot,” he said.

More on this series:

Click here to see previous stories in our "We are the median" series. We’re also sharing our thoughts — and yours — on Twitter (hashtag #median), Facebook and Google Plus. We invite you to comment on our posts — but keep it civil and on topic, please!

Finally, please share your story of what it’s like to be living on about $50,000 a year by clicking here to send me e-mail. We’ll feature some of your stories in future Life Inc. posts. 

John Makely / msnbc.com

Ann Valencia looks on as movers unload a truck full of her belongings and load them into a storage unit she rented. Valencia has had to downsize and move in with a friend after she could no longer afford her two-bedroom apartment in Bayside, New York.

Ann Valencia, 55, lived until recently on her own in an apartment in Bayside, Queens, N.Y. But earlier this month, the high cost of rent and utilities forced the administrative assistant to move out of the apartment, put her things in storage and stay with a friend until she can find a more affordable place to live. 

Multimedia producer John Makely visited with Valencia recently as part of a series of stories looking at what it’s like to live on the nation’s median income of about $50,000 a year.

What’s it like to live on around $50,000 a year?
It is extremely difficult to survive on my salary. I find it increasingly difficult to juggle my financial obligations as things become more expensive.

How has the weak economy affected your finances?
The weak economy has affected my finances in ways which I couldn't have imagined. As money grows tighter, it has forced me to use my credit cards for basic items and services that I would have paid cash for in the past.

Do you worry about money?
I worry about money constantly. I am, for most aspects in my life, an eternal optimist. I tend to see the glass half full, but this aspect of my life has taken a toll on me emotionally. As a single woman in her fifties, it is frightening at times to be on your own. Although I adore my independence, I worry what would happen if I lost my job. There is a silent foe in the work world — age discrimination! It is extremely difficult to find a new job over the age of 50.

John Makely / msnbc.com

Ann Valencia makes about $50,000, equal to the national median household income, but living in New York she has trouble paying her bills.

What do you splurge on?
Every few weeks I splurge on a manicure. I like my hands and nails to look nice and enjoy the relaxing time of having a manicure.

Is there anything you wish you could afford but can’t?
I wish I had a new (or newer) car. The other would be for a new computer as mine is about eight years old and runs very slow. I use my home computer to write, which is my passion.

Is it difficult to pay your bills every month?
I juggle my bills the best that I can. In my company we are paid every two weeks. One of my paychecks doesn't even cover my rent, so I have to take some money from the other check to supplement my rent. My other bills tend to suffer due to this. I have borrowed from my life insurance and 401(k) to try to make ends meet.

What kind of debt do you have, and do you find it hard to pay off your loans or other debts?
I have credit card bills, a student loan for my son's school and medical bills. I am constantly struggling and juggling to pay all of these debts. I am only able to pay a little over the minimum payments on credit cards. As I depend on them more often now, my balances are higher, as are the minimum payments.

What are you most proud of in terms of your financial situation?
I am proud that in spite of all of this financial torture, I still have a good credit score. I am also proud that I was able to raise two wonderful children, provide for them and give them a good home and education. As a widow, it has been a real challenge as my late husband was killed in an auto accident 20 years ago this December.

Will the upcoming holidays add to your financial burdens?
Yes, it will add to my burden, but what is more important than spending the holidays with friends and family? … I am very lucky to have wonderful friends and family who aren't materialistic, so gifts are more on the sentimental side than expensive. Aside from gifts, there is more food to buy and cookies to bake for the holiday celebrations. In my family, we tend to share this expense and everyone brings something to the table, both literally and figuratively!

More on this series:

Click here to see previous stories in our "We are the median" series. We’re also sharing our thoughts — and yours — on Twitter (hashtag #median), Facebook and Google Plus. We invite you to comment on our posts — but keep it civil and on topic, please!

Finally, please share your story of what it’s like to be living on about $50,000 a year by clicking here to send me e-mail. We’ll feature some of your stories in future Life Inc. posts. 

Mint.com

Our series of stories on people living on the national household median income of about $50,000 has generated thousands of comments from users, many of whom point out that $50,000 in Kansas is a lot different than $50,000 in New York.

An infographic produced by Mint.com makes that precise point, graphically.

Using Census Bureau data similar to what we are using for our own series, the Mint.com map shows that the states in the center of the country are closest to the national average, with median incomes that generally range from $40,000 to $55,000.

States in the Northeast tend to have a much higher household median above $60,000, while those in the Southeast have the lowest.

Mississippi ranks lowest with a household median income of about $36,600, while Maryland ranks highest at more than $69,000.

Via Business Insider.

More on this series:

Click here to see previous stories in our "We are the median" series. We’re also sharing our thoughts — and yours — on Twitter (hashtag #median), Facebook and Google Plus. We invite you to comment on our posts — but keep it civil and on topic, please!

Finally, please share your story of what it’s like to be living on about $50,000 a year by clicking here to send e-mail. We’ll feature some of your stories in future Life Inc. posts. 

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Jason Ruediger carries his 2-year-old daughter, Aureus, while his wife pushes their 1-year-old son, Crichton, on the Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, Calif.

CORONADO, Calif. – Just a few years ago, Jason Ruediger was a single guy with a military salary and little more to spend it on than his car, insurance and meals out.

“When you’re single, I mean, your whole paycheck goes to you,” said Ruediger, 25, a petty officer second class with the Navy.

But now his paycheck has to stretch to cover his wife, two young children and two large dogs.

“I’ve actually gotten really good at budgeting,” said Ruediger, who is based at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado, Calif., where he works as aviation support technician IMRL manager, meaning he helps manage inventory.

The military plays a big role in helping Jason, and his wife, Mariecor, 37, make ends meet on a little less than $50,000 a year in an expensive area like Coronado, outside of San Diego.

Jason estimates they would have to take in a civilian salary of $80,000 just to maintain the standard of living they now have for less than $50,000.

TODAY.com's Life Inc. blog visited the Ruedigers in Coronado this week as part of a series of stories looking at what it’s like to live on the nation’s median income of about $50,000 a year.

The family’s cozy, recently remodeled yellow house is part of the Navy’s partially subsidized military housing. The Ruedigers get groceries from the commissary with no added tax, aid for their education through military programs and help with things like holiday gifts for their children, ages 1 and 2, from charities focused on military families. Living on base saves on gas and other commuting expenses.

Perhaps most important, the couple’s military insurance covered the hefty bills stemming from the premature birth of their daughter Aureus, 2, and later her hospitalization due to Kawasaki disease, which causes inflammation of artery walls.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

Aureus Ruediger, 2, suffered medical problems but was covered by her family's military health care plan.

“The military takes care of you really well,” Ruediger said.

Still, the couple sometimes find their budget stretched by unexpected expenses, and it’s hard to afford things like travel. Mariecor has not been able to get to her native Guam to visit her mother, who had a serious stroke three years ago.

The couple also says deployments take a toll. Jason left on a mission to the Gulf with the USS Nimitz just two weeks after Aureus was born at 29 weeks.

Although he was home in time to hear Aureus say her first words and take her first steps, he doesn’t want to miss any more of his children's big milestones. That’s why he has decided to leave the military in May, after about six years of service.

“Those are things that you’re not going to get back,” he said.

Jim Seida / msnbc.com

A to-do list of financial goals hangs in the bathroom wall in the Ruediger home.

The couple keeps a five-year plan taped next to the bathroom mirror. It’s a constant reminder of their personal, professional and financial goals.

Jason says the couple have made some financial mistakes, and they do have some debt. But they’ve learned from their experiences.

“We’ve had a few headwinds, so you just learn and keep going,” he said.

Their baby girl was in the hospital for two and a half months after she was born, and every day Mariecor either took the bus, walked two miles to the taxi stand or got a ride to the hospital to spend time with her daughter, who is now a healthy, active toddler.

It was during those early days as a mother that Mariecor said she decided she needed to go back to school. Although she would love to be a stay-at-home mother, she wants the family to have the financial security of two incomes.

“You know how every parent wants that their child has a better life?” she says. “I wanted that.”

Mariecor has an undergraduate degree in biology and is pursuing a master’s degree in organizational management. One of her goals is to become a published author, and she hopes that eventually she and her husband each will be making $75,000 a year.

Jason also is already thinking ahead to how he will provide for the family once he’s a civilian. He’s studying for an associate’s degree and plans to eventually get a bachelor’s degree in Web design.

Meanwhile, he’s already started a Web-based business selling birthday party supplies, and he’s talking with the Navy about the possibility of doing his military job as a civilian once he’s discharged. They have put off having another child because they will no longer have military health insurance.

“I don’t want to have a $50,000 medical bill,” he said.

More on this series:

Click here to see previous stories in our "We are the median" series. We’re also sharing our thoughts — and yours — on Twitter (hashtag #median), Facebook and Google Plus. We invite you to comment on our posts — but keep it civil and on topic, please!

Finally, please share your story of what it’s like to be living on about $50,000 a year by clicking here to send me e-mail. We’ll feature some of your stories in future Life Inc. posts. 

Eric Kayne for msnbc.com

Nathan Palmer, left, and Brett Jones at their home in Victoria, Texas.

Does $50,000 a year seem like plenty to live on, or not nearly enough?

If you said somewhere in between, that makes sense because $49,445 is the national household median income, meaning about half of all households live on more than that and half on less. The figure, based on 2010 calculations, was reported in September by the Census Bureau as part of an extensive report on income and poverty.

In some places and circumstances, $50,000 is enough for a large family to live comfortably. In others, it’s not even enough for a single person to afford rent, utilities and other expenses.

Four years into the deepest economic downturn in a generation, some Americans, especially those who have experienced bouts with unemployment, are overjoyed to be earning $50,000 a year. Others are devastated to have seen their incomes fall so far.

For some, it’s a mixture of both.

We recently asked the readers of TODAY.com's Life Inc. blog to let us know what it's like to live on about $50,000 a year, and we got hundreds of responses.

“While unemployed I would have been thrilled to make $50,000,” said Dawn Mogan, 55.

Now that she actually makes that salary after two years of unemployment, the single mom in Texas still worries constantly about money.

U.S. Census Bureau

Adjusted for inflation, median household income has fallen over the past few years.

Many of the readers who wrote to us say that on $50,000 a year they can put food on the table, pay for necessities and even splurge occasionally on a dinner out or a game for the family.

But others told us they have to watch their budgets closely and occasionally make sacrifices to get the bills paid.

“It's not poverty. We don't miss meals and we make MOST of our bills. However, we live paycheck to paycheck, and we carry debt,” wrote Brett Jones, 37, who lives with his partner in Texas.

Many feel like they are treading water — and for good reason. After adjusting for inflation, the nation's median income has fallen about 7 percent from its peak in 1999, reversing a fairly steady increase that lasted for five decades from 1950, according to Census Bureau figures.

The troubles started when the nation last fell into recession in 2001. From 2000 to 2007, household income was virtually stagnant, said economist Heidi Shierholz with the Economic Policy Institute.

“Even that was dramatic,” she said.

Then came the Great Recession of 2007-09 and its ugly aftermath.

From 2007 to 2010, the Census Bureau estimates that median household income fell by 6.4 percent, to $49,445, as unemployment soared to a peak of over 10 percent. (The jobless rate dropped last month to 8.6 percent — still high by historical standards although the best level in more than two years.)

Of course, median income varies a lot depending on what kind of household you live in. For families, defined as two or more related people living together, median household income was $61,544 last year. For single people, it was $29,730.

Gordon Green, a former Census official who is now a partner in Sentier Research, has been using government data to track monthly changes in American income levels.

He wasn’t too surprised to find that median income fell during the recession. After all, a deep recession combined with sharp job losses can be expected to have that effect.

But he was surprised to find that incomes have fallen even more sharply in the weak recovery period that followed the recession, even as the massive job cuts slowed.

He suspects that’s because some people held onto their jobs but saw their hours or wages cut, while others, after long periods of unemployment, were forced to take jobs that paid less than their previous positions.

Taken together, he said the median income decline from December 2007 to June 2011 "represents a significant reduction in the American standard of living.”

Even the relatively low rate of inflation that has characterized the past few years can start to add up if your income is not rising.

"Even if there’s 2 percent inflation, if they don’t get any raise that’s a 2 percent real wage drop,” Shierholz said. “That happens for a couple years, and that starts adding up to a serious decline of what you can buy with your paycheck.”

The outlook for the future remains uncertain. Diane Swonk, chief economist with Mesirow Financial, said one major problem is that even as companies start hiring again, there aren’t good systems in place to train people for work that requires skills but not a college degree. Those skilled labor jobs traditionally have represented a strong path to get into — or stay in — the middle class.

And even a college degree isn’t necessarily the guarantee of a comfortable salary that it once was.

And despite the November surprise of a sharp drop in unemployment, it could be years before enough jobs are added to bring the rate down to historical norms of 4 to 6 percent.

“Unfortunately, if there was a silver bullet to be shot it would have already been shot,” Swonk said. “We’re going to have to struggle through this time and adjust, and it’s a painful adjustment.”

Green saw a glimmer of hope in recent data that showed a slight increase in household median income to $50,257 as of September. But he said it’s too early to tell whether that’s a sign of better times, or just a fluke in the data.

To see what it’s like to literally be in the middle of the nation’s income spectrum, Life Inc. is hitting the road this week to profile Americans from all walks of life whose household income is around $50,000 a year.

We’ll be posting their profiles here and sharing our thoughts — and yours — on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. We also invite you to comment on our posts — but keep it civil and on topic, please!

Finally, please share your story of what it’s like to be living on about $50,000 a year here. We’ll feature some of your stories in future Life Inc. posts.

Related:

Poverty rate hits 18-year high as median income falls   
Employment growth picked up speed in November   
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The median income for U.S. households is currently around $50,000 a year.

Are you or your family living on around $50,000 a year?

If so, we want to hear from you for a series of stories on how the American middle class lives today.

If you’re interested in being a part of this project, please e-mail us here. Please give us some details, including where you live, what you or your spouse does for a living and how to best reach you. Selected responses will be used in upcoming stories.