Class also could simply be a matter of self-identification. But being middle class can refer to more than just income, be it the level of education, the type of profession, economic security, home ownership, or one’s social and political values. The terms “middle income” and “middle class” are used interchangeably in this analysis for the sake of exposition. The boundaries of the income tiers also vary across years with changes in the national median income. The income it takes to be middle income varies by household size, with smaller households requiring less to support the same lifestyle as larger households. “Lower-income” adults have household incomes less than $52,000 and “upper-income” adults have household incomes greater than $156,000. In this analysis, “middle-income” adults in 2021 are those with an annual household income that was two-thirds to double the national median income in 2020, after incomes have been adjusted for household size, or about $52,000 to $156,000 annually in 2020 dollars for a household of three. Thus, the shares of adults in an income tier are based on their household incomes in the previous year.) (In the source data for both analyses, demographic figures refer to the 1971-2021 period, while income figures refer to the 1970-2020 period. A related analysis examines the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the financial well-being of households in the lower-, middle- and upper-income tiers, with comparisons to the Great Recession era. middle class and that of America’s major demographic groups have changed since 1971. The analysis below presents seven facts about how the economic status of the U.S. These changes have occurred gradually, as the share of adults in the middle class decreased in each decade from 1971 to 2011, but then held steady through 2021. The shrinking of the middle class has been accompanied by an increase in the share of adults in the upper-income tier – from 14% in 1971 to 21% in 2021 – as well as an increase in the share who are in the lower-income tier, from 25% to 29%. The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data.įrom 2020: Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator The middle class, once the economic stratum of a clear majority of American adults, has steadily contracted in the past five decades.
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