California, particularly the Bay Area, is quite different. 125K for a family is squarely middle class.

Median household income for SF is 72,947.

For San Mateo it's 87,633.

For Santa Clara it's 89,064.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_locations_by_income

I would just keep in mind that the difference in housing cost between newcomers and those who have lived here for a long time can be very significant because of prop 13, rent control, and a local housing market that has inflated rapidly over the past 30 years.

I bet if you limited the range to households with college-age children, the median would be much higher. Those are peak earnings years for most people.

Frankly, if you're from the bay area, you have a cost-savings option (living at home) unavailable to anyone else at Stanford.

Too bad you're being downvoted. Ed Lee (in)famously said the SF middle class was $80,000 to $150,000.