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What Does It Take to Be Middle Class in the United States?

 

The not-so-simple answer is it depends on how you define ‘middle class.’

In a 2018 report, Pew Research Center defined middle class as middle income. “In our analysis, “middle-income” Americans are adults whose annual household income is two-thirds to double the national median, after incomes have been adjusted for household size. In 2016, the national middle-income range was about $45,200 to $135,600 annually for a household of three.”

In November, USA Today shared an analysis by Michael Sauter that adopted a different standard. It considered U.S. family income from “…the lower boundary of the second quintile and the upper boundary of the fourth quintile [of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey], representing in total 60 percent of American families…The analysis made some cost-of-living adjustments and found, “…the range of income that could be considered middle class in a given state.”

In the states with the highest median (the number in the middle of the list) family incomes, middle-class income ranged from:

·         Massachusetts:       $35,233 to $188,259

·         New Jersey:           $39,920 to $197,868

States in the middle of the pack for median family income had these middle-class income ranges:

·         Wyoming:              $25,760 to $111,422

·         Kansas:                  $24,741 to $105,573

·         Iowa:                     $24,663 to $101,008

In the states with the lowest median family incomes, the middle-class income range was:

·         West Virginia:        $17,452 to $85,516

·         Mississippi:            $15,165 to $81,480

It’s interesting to note the 2020 federal poverty threshold set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which determines eligibility for various federal programs, was $26,200 for a family of four.

Not everyone uses income to define the middle class. Richard V. Reeves, Katherine Guyot, and Eleanor Krause of Brookings explored the question, asking:

“Is middle-class status a reflection of economic resources, especially income or wealth? Or is it denoted more clearly by occupational status and/or educational attainment? Is it, rather, a state of mind, a set of aspirations, or revealed through behavior, cultural tastes, or by certain kinds of consumption? Is it a question of how we define ourselves?”

What do you think?

 

Best regards,

Womack Investment Advisers, Inc.

 

WOMACK INVESTMENT ADVISERS, INC.
Oklahoma / Main Office: 1366 E. 15th Street - Edmond, OK  73013
California Office: 4660 La Jolla Village Dr., Ste. 100 - San Diego, CA 92122
Phone (405) 340-1717 - Toll Free (877) 340-1717

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