{"id":13083,"date":"2015-12-10T07:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/5-takeaways-about-the-american-middle-class\/"},"modified":"2024-06-24T09:09:22","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T13:09:22","slug":"5-takeaways-about-the-american-middle-class","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/12\/10\/5-takeaways-about-the-american-middle-class\/","title":{"rendered":"5 takeaways about the American middle class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Note:<\/strong>\u00a0For our more recent in-depth analysis of the middle class, read \u201cThe State of the American Middle Class<\/a>\u201d (May 2024).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans in middle-income households have lost significant ground since 1970, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis<\/a> of government data.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The middle class has long been the country\u2019s economic majority, but our new analysis finds that\u2019s no longer true. Meanwhile, the middle class has fallen further behind upper-income households financially, which now hold a larger share of aggregate household income than ever before in the 44-year period examined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Share<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We define middle-income households as those whose annual household income is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income after incomes have been adjusted for household size. This amounts to about $42,000 to $126,000 annually, in 2014 dollars and for a household of three. Lower-income households have incomes less than two-thirds of the median, while upper-income households have incomes that are more than double the median. (Related: Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator.<\/a>)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are five key takeaways from the report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Middle-income Americans are no longer the nation\u2019s economic majority. <\/strong>In early 2015, there were 120.8 million adults in middle-income households, matched in number by the 121.3 million adults who were in lower- and upper-income households combined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the culmination of a long slide<\/a> in which the share of adults in middle-income households has fallen from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decline in the middle represents both economic progress and polarization. <\/strong>The shift shows progress in the sense that a larger share of Americans now live in upper-income households. Fully 21% of American adults in 2015 were upper income, compared with 14% in 1971, a 7-percentage-point increase. The increase in the share of upper-income adults was greater than the change in the opposite direction. Some 29% of U.S. adults were low income in 2015, compared with 25% in 1971.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the data also show increasing economic polarization: As the distribution of adults thins in the middle, it is bulking up most at the extreme ends of the income distribution, the lowest and highest tiers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Income<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the long haul, America\u2019s middle-income households have seen their income grow.<\/strong> From 1970 to 2014<\/a>, these households\u2019 median income increased from $54,682 to $73,392 (in 2014 dollars), a gain of 34%. Lower-income household incomes have grown, too, but not as much: 28% over the same 44-year period. Upper-income household incomes have grown most, up 47% over this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the nation\u2019s economic progress over the past several decades masks financial setbacks since 2000.<\/strong> Because of the recession in 2001 and the Great Recession of 2007-09, overall household incomes fell from 2000 to 2014. The greatest loss was felt by lower-income households, whose median income fell 9% over this period; the median for middle-income households fell 4%, and that for upper-income households fell 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The share<\/em> of U.S. aggregate household income held by middle-income households has plunged,<\/strong> from 62% in 1970 to 43% in 2014. Meanwhile, the share held by upper-income households increased from 29% to 49%. This shift<\/a> is driven both by the growing size of the upper-income tier and more rapid gains in income at the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a growing disparity in the median wealth<\/a> (assets minus debts) of these income tiers. Upper-income families, who had three times as much wealth as middle-income families in 1983, more than doubled the wealth gap<\/a> to seven times as much in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, certain<\/strong> demographic groups have fared better than others in moving up the economic ladder. <\/strong>Since 1971, older Americans (ages 65 and older) and African Americans have made notable progress<\/a> in moving up the income tiers. But overall, both groups are still overrepresented in the lower-income tier. Married adults also made significant progress over this 44-year period, and women overall made greater economic gains than men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Americans without a college degree stand out as experiencing a substantial loss in economic status since 1971, as do young adults ages 18 to 29. Hispanics overall are also more likely to be in lower-income households than in 1971, a change driven by the increasing share of immigrants in the Hispanic population in the past four decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The middle class has long been the country\u2019s economic majority, but our new analysis finds that\u2019s no longer 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