Posted on 04/07/2026 5:20:20 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
The U.S. middle class is shrinking, but not because more Americans are poorer. Instead, more households are climbing into the echelons of the upper middle class due to income gains in recent decades, according to research from the nonpartisan American Enterprise Institute.
About 31% of U.S. households earn enough to be considered upper middle class, a roughly threefold increase since 1979, making it the nation's largest economic group, the research found. Meanwhile, the share of Americans in the "core" and "low" middle class segments has declined over that time, primarily because more households in those income groups have jumped ahead economically, AEI found.
The findings underscore a broader shift in the U.S. economy: As more households move up the income ladder, consumer demand is tilting toward higher-end goods and services. The so-called "K-shaped" economy — in which higher-income consumers are spending more while lower-income households pull back — has become a hallmark of the post-COVID economy.
"The whole distribution of Americans, from poor to rich, has done better over time. And to the extent that fewer people are within a fixed income range that we might think of as middle class, that's just because everybody's gotten richer over time," Scott Winship, a co-author of the report and a senior fellow at AEI, told CBS News.
The analysis, based on U.S. Census data, analyzed family incomes between 1979 and 2024, with the last year in the study representing the most recent available data.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
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I always find it funny that they focus on income when making these lists.
most wealth is held in assets.
many billionaires take no salaries at all, and would be considered poor by this measure for instance
So what actual incomes determine middle class and upper middle class?
The number of households with between $1 million and $10 million has also gone up in the past 10 years. Even younger households, which have not had decades to build up wealth may be in the $500K to $1 million area.
TAX THE UPPER MIDDLE CLASS! Doesn’t have the same ring to it.
I agree. All I see around are upper middle class couples and families. I don’t know of any making less than six figures in my church or circle of friends and acquaintances.
Maybe so….but $100K isn’t what it used to be…
Around here $100K is barely scrapping by.
The upper middle class is now the largest income group in the US.
Somebody has to do or everybody is poor that stinks.
I recently read a column explaining how the current poverty rate (originally defined as the minimum needed to function in society) for a family of four is really $130,000 or so to function in todays society, not the 30-something thousand government figure. Unfortunately I can’t remember where I saw it or all the specific details.
The base line for comparison was the mid 60s, maybe 50 years ago. The example from the piece I do recall is the phone bill. Fifty years ago the typical phone bill was $5 a month. Inflation (“official”) since then brings that to $55 a month or so. But to function in today’s society, one really needs a smart phone due to many needs for duo-authentication for banking, websites, etc. So today’s monthly phone bill is typically $100 or more.
The piece went through many such examples to arrive at the minimum $130,00 level needed. The argument made a lot of sense.
That’s crazy.
People in poor countries live on few hundreds of $ a year.
And they still live!
I figured out, one can really live on $1000 a year, even in the US!
3.7% is the largest income group? I hardly see how that can be true.
And that is exactly who is making the rules. Income is for chumps
31% have the net worth to be deemed upper middle class
In my view, what separates the middle middle class from the upper middle class is financial discipline. I’m not trying to say that a lack of upward mobility is a character flaw, so don’t even try it. But what I think is that many middle middle class can build a solid net worth and a decent retirement nest egg if they stop financing things they cannot afford and start making a real effort to increase their net worth.
As a boomer in my late 60s I contend that next to uncontrolled spending and it’s accompanying debt, a huge mistake my fellow boomers make is turning on social security at age 62 or 63.72% of US households have zero to $49,999.00 saved and 36% turn on SS at 62-63. Those of that 32% who have less than $50K saved but for whatever reason think it smart to start collecting SS at 62 or 63 must secretly hate themselves.
My daily work commute is 100 miles round trip. Up until January I drove a 2012 Ford Escape 4 cyl that by the end of the year had 230,000 miles on the clock. How many of us justify buying a brand new car every 4 years because we have ourselves convinced that anything older and with a few miles on it is unsafe and unreliable? One example of how the middle middle shoots iteslf in the foot, many others exist.
Oh, and by the way, I’m 68 still making that 500 mile per week commute in a cash car, plan on taking SS at 70 and already have the upper middle class designation and did it on a middle middle class income. The thing that helped us the most was being debt free and paying off our mortgage when our friends told us we should invest the extra money, which they didn’t do for themselves and are stuck in the middle middle. Good times.
Once the Communist Party USA! takes back power, this statistic will likely change...and fast.
What if you don’t have the income & very little property or other assets? Inflation hits our group pretty hard. Never got anywhere working & sure don’t do much now that I’m retired, either, but I get by & what happens in this world isn’t the end of the line. Having Jesus Christ as Lord & Savior is of REAL importance.
I believe the 3.7% refers to the group above the upper middle class.
How many 60-somethings pull the plug on employment intending to fund their retirement on nothing but social security proudly proclaim that “health is wealth” then go on to complain that health care is too expensive, so they pass on it until it no longer can be ignored?
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