For comparison, as Pew notes, the Census Bureau calculated the poverty line in 2020 for a family of four in the US at $15.90 a person daily, making them part of the global middle class.Remember, this is based on just one definition of middle class. According to a 2021 analysis from Pew, the global middle class lives on $10.01 to $20 a day. The US middle class is richer than many of their middle-class counterparts around the world, though. However, as the analysis notes, the middle class has been shrinking worldwide - and the US has consistently had a smaller percentage of its population in the middle-class. OECD defined middle-income class as 'households with income between 75% and 200% of the median national income.' The US'S other neighbor, Mexico, had a smaller share at 45%. Across OECD countries, about 61% of the population is generally middle class - but the US's share came in at just 51% at the time of the OECD's analysis.Īt 58%, neighboring country Canada had a higher share considered middle income compared to the US. The US's middle class pales in comparison to many of its peers.Īccording to a 2019 analysis from the OECD, the US's middle class is smaller than most fellow OECD countries. Middle- and lower-income Americans are also feeling the impact of rising prices and inflation on their wallets, according to a Gallup poll. Although that percentage is higher than those considered lower income, this is also a smaller share than in 2021 when 48% of middle income respondents reported this.

As of the fourth quarter of 2021, that group held about $39 trillion.Īccording to a recent Gallup survey, 39% of those considered middle income by Gallup - those with an annual household income of $40,000 to $99,999 - said their own financial situation is improving. Almost half of middle-income respondents said their finances were about the same.Īccording to Federal Reserve Data, the 50%-90% percentile of Americans saw their collective wealth dip a bit in the first quarter of 2020 to about $31 trillion - but it grew in the second quarter, and has continued growing since. By 2019, it had risen to $92,042 - and then fell to $90,131 in 2020.Īccording to a January 2021 survey of US adults from Pew, roughly a third of middle-income respondents said that their and their family's financial circumstances were actually better than they were the year before. As seen in the above chart, the median household income for a middle-class household of three in 2020 dollars was $79,838 in 2010, according to Pew's analysis. Household income for the middle class has been on the rise over the last decade, although the pandemic still set them back. Households of five making roughly between $67,000 to $201,000 are also considered part of the middle class. 'To be middle class, a household of three would have an income between $40,000 and $154,000.'Ī three-person middle-income household makes about $52,000 to $156,000 every year according to Pew's definition.Ī household of four would have to makes $60,000 to $180,000. 'The average middle-class household has about $70,000 in income after taxes and transfers,' a Brookings essay wrote.

A household of two would have to earn around $42,000 to $127,000 to qualify.Ī little over half of Americans surveyed by Northwestern Mutual in 2018 said the range for being in the middle class were assets between $50,000 to $99,999. It often indicates a user profile.Ī single American making $30,000 to roughly $90,000 every year is middle-income, according to Pew. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders.

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