People Whose Annual Income Is Less Than This Amount Are No Longer Considered Middle Class
The middle class has shrunk exponentially over the last five years.
Damir Khabirov | Shutterstock With the looming repercussions of President Donald Trump's tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, many Americans are gearing up for the cost of necessities to skyrocket. Given the already high cost of living, countless people who were once in the middle class are coming to the unfortunate realization that their incomes no longer cut it.
The Pew Research Center underscored this fact by releasing an income calculator that Americans can use to determine if they truly are a member of the middle class. It seems that the majority of people are not.
They found that people whose annual income is less than $56,600 are no longer considered middle class.
According to the Pew Research Center, in 2022, about half of U.S. adults (52%) lived in middle-income households. Roughly three-in-ten (28%) were in lower-income households, and 19% were in upper-income households.
They explained that middle-class households — those with an annual income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income — had incomes ranging from about $56,600 to $169,800 in 2022. Lower-income households had incomes less than $56,600, and upper-income households had incomes greater than $169,800.
Over the last five decades, the American middle class has changed drastically.
An April 2022 study from the Pew Research Center, found that the share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 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 researchers noted.
The gap between upper-income households and everyone else has also widened. "In 2022, the median income of upper-income households was 7.3 times that of lower-income households, up from 6.3 in 1970," a 2024 Pew Research study stated. "It was 2.4 times the median income of middle-income households in 2022, up from 2.2 in 1970."
Despite inflation being down, middle-class Americans are still struggling.
Inflation in the U.S. has eased substantially compared to its peak. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the annual rate of inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, was 2.4% in September 2024. Comparatively, in 2021, the inflation rate reached 7%.
Cast Of Thousands | Shutterstock
Yet, as of June 2024, 65% of middle-class Americans said they were struggling financially and didn’t expect their situation to improve for the rest of their lives, per a survey from the National True Cost of Living Coalition. It's gotten to the point that three-quarters of middle-income families said they are actively cutting back on non-essential expenses, with 73% finding it difficult to save for the future.
At the end of the day, far too many Americans are wondering how they're going to pay for basic things like groceries, rent, and other bills. They're living paycheck to paycheck without an end goal in sight, and that is unacceptable.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.