Middle-class jobs fall short: 62% fail to support lifestyle in US

Sixty-two percent of jobs fall short of that middle-class standard when factoring in both wages and the cost of living in the metro area where the job is located, according to the study by Third Way, a think tank that advocates center-left ideas.

"There's an opportunity crisis in the country," says Jim Kessler, vice president of policy for Third Way and editor of the report. "It explains some of the economic uneasiness and, frankly, the political uneasiness" even amid the most robust U.S. economy and labor market since before the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009.

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Some areas, such as Myrtle Beach, fall short because of a scarcity of good-paying jobs. Among the biggest cities, Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco were ranked fairly low (172nd, 168th and 174th, respectively) despite thriving economies because of their high cost of living.