Plus the lower income group includes a growing population of illegals and uneducated immigrants. I am surprised that the numbers aren’t worse.
For a single individual, lower income is an AGI below $24,13. For a household of 4 people, it is an AGI below 48,347.
There may be many highly educated people in the lower income group. They might own outright a house worth $200K, or they might have $5 million in their IRA for all anyone knows. The single year-income number is highly misleading.
I should know, since I am probably in the top 1% in net worth, but the number I put on my 1040 puts me at the bottom of the middle class. Why show a high income to the IRS if you don’t have to?