According to Pew Research Center, the middle class has shrunk throughout the last five decades as more Americans have entered either the upper or lower income brackets. How much it takes to be considered middle class in U.S.
The latest data from 2021 shows the share of the population in the middle class continues to hover around 50%, about where it has been since 2011. Prior to that year, the share of middle-class Americans had been consistently shrinking since a peak of 61% in 1971.
But other factors like family size and location can change what middle class looks like for you. Generally speaking, anyone who isn’t living “paycheck-to-paycheck” but couldn’t necessarily stop working tomorrow and be financially secure for the long term might consider themselves middle class.
At least half of the U.S. adult population has consistently identified as a middle or upper-middle class since 2002, according to Gallup polling. The poll does not define a middle class for respondents but asks if they identify as upper, upper-middle, middle, working, or lower class.
As of April 2022, 52% of adults consider themselves middle or upper-middle-class. And statistically speaking, they could all be correct. But given different life situations and perceptions of wealth, there’s a good chance not everyone who feels middle class actually is, and vice-versa.
