What We Know About Vance Having Middle-Class Upbringing in Suburban Ohio

Claim:

U.S. Sen. and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance grew up in suburban Ohio in a large house, with a middle-class family, and he took golf lessons.

Rating:

What’s True

Vance did not grow up in Appalachia, but in suburban Ohio, in a house in a neighborhood considered “middle class” at the time he was growing up. He took golf lessons and also went to Yale for law school…

What’s False

… but his father left when he was still a toddler, his mother struggled with substance abuse and he was raised by his grandparents. And while he grew up in Middletown, Ohio, his grandparents had moved there from Appalachia, like many other families in Middletown, and he spent summers in Jackson, Kentucky, located in the Appalachian Mountains. He attended Ohio State University on the U.S. Marine Corps tuition assistance program, and then Yale’s law school on a near-full scholarship.

What’s Undetermined

We could not confirm his family’s income in 2024 dollars, nor who paid for his golf lessons.

Immediately after the October 2024 vice presidential debate, social media users revived a rumor that JD Vance, the Republican running mate of former U.S. President Donald Trump, had grown up in a suburban town in Ohio’s rust belt — not Appalachia, as he’d claimed — in a middle-class family who lived in a large house (archived):

This rumor had been circulating since at least the Republican National Convention in July 2024, when Trump named the Ohio senator on his presidential ticket.

One X user even claimed his family earned more than $175,000 a year in today’s money (archived):

The claim repeatedly appeared on X in July with similar phrasing about his family’s income, house and his golf lessons.

But while the X users were correct in pointing out that Vance grew up in suburban Ohio, not in Appalachia, the rest was false. Therefore, we have rated this claim as a mixture of both truth and falsehoods.

What We Know

Vance did grow up in Middletown, Ohio, north of Cincinnati. That area is not Appalachia, though it is a few hours away in a car. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vance’s family was one of many in Middletown that moved there from Appalachia to find work in the steel industry. Also, the family spent summers in Jackson, Kentucky, which is located in the Appalachian Mountains.

In 2022, 19.2% of the population in Middletown lived under the poverty threshold, much higher than Ohio’s average of 13.4%. This compared with a poverty rate of 12.6% in 2000. Like many steel-producing towns, Middletown’s industry was rocked over the years by closures and relocations, causing rises in unemployment and poverty.

Vance was born in 1984 to a couple who did not remain together. When he was very young, his father moved away, and his parents divorced when he was 6. Following that, his mother struggled with addiction and mental health issues, and she reportedly hurt him physically. For this reason, the authorities entrusted Vance to his grandparents. 

According to Vance’s cousin Bonnie Meibers, Vance’s book “Hillbilly Elegy” accurately recounted their family life when they were growing up. She said the term “hillbilly” came from their grandmother, affectionately known as “Mamaw,” who described them as “hillbillies” or “hill people.”

As for the size of the home in which he grew up, Realtor.com reported that it boasted three bedrooms, not four, and 2,000 square feet of living space. It was built in 1900. The site explained how it was considered “middle class” when he was growing up. Meanwhile, we could not verify the exact income of his family at the time. We should note that a household’s level of income does not say anything about the stability of family life. 

It does appear, however, that Vance took golf lessons, spurred on by his grandmother, who thought golf was “where rich people do business,” according to Golf Digest magazine. It is not clear who paid for the golf lessons, though Vance said a successful uncle introduced him to the game, and he later worked as a cart boy at the Shaker Run Golf Club in Lebanon, Ohio. 

Vance joined the U.S. Marine Corps after high school, from 2003 to 2007. He then attended Ohio State University on the tuition assistance program of the Marines, and graduated summa cum laude in 2009. He then applied to Yale University for law school, and received a nearly full-ride scholarship, graduating in 2013.

Sources