Are You Middle Class?
The share of Americans in the middle class has been dwindling for decades. Here's how to tell if you're part of the shrinking middle class.
The share of Americans considered to be middle class is now the smallest it has been in five decades, having steadily contracted since the 1970s. The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to the Pew Research Center.
But what actually defines the middle class? If you just define it as the "middle" of the range of household incomes earned in the United States, it can't really shrink. The middle is the middle, regardless of what the actual numbers are.
By that definition, the "middle class" is struggling. According to a 2025 analysis from Brookings, a third of the middle class (the middle 60% of earners) can't afford the cost of living in the place that they live.
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If, like most people, you define it as a certain quality of life, that changes. In other words, it's the level of income required to live the American dream: buy a house, raise a family, save for retirement and have enough leftover for a vacation or two every year.
By that definition, the middle class is shrinking. It takes higher and higher incomes to achieve that quality of life. To find out if your household income still makes the cut, you can use the calculator from Pew Research Center below.
Are you considered middle class?
To determine whether or not you’re considered middle class, the calculator from Pew Research Center uses your size-adjusted household income and the cost of living in your area to determine your income tier.
Middle-class definitions can vary, but for this calculator, the middle class is defined as households with an income that is two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income.
You should also note that the data used to create this calculator is from 2022, so it doesn't account for inflation over the last few years. However, it's still recent enough to give you a good ballpark estimate of how your income compares to other earners in your state.
Here's a look at the income calculator, which you can access here.
You’ll also be able to compare yourself to adults similar to you in education, age, race, ethnicity and marital status, if that’s of interest to you.
The calculator takes your household income and adjusts it for the size of your household, which is revised upward for households that are below-average in size and downward for those of above-average size, so each household’s income is made equivalent to the income of a three-person household.
In 2022, middle-class incomes ranged from about $56,600 to $169,800, lower-income households had incomes less than $56,600 and upper-income households had incomes greater than $169,800.
In a more recent study from Smart Asset, researchers found that, in at least five states, you could earn over $200,000 per year and still be counted as middle class due to the cost of living.
If your income qualifies as middle class in your state, but you don't feel like your lifestyle quite lives up to your idea of the middle class, you're not alone.
The Brookings study cited earlier found that 23% to 57% of middle income earners could not afford the basics, let alone fund long-term financial goals or vacations.
If that sounds familiar, you might benefit from working with a financial planner to review your spending and come up with a comprehensive, personalized wealth-building plan.
Getting this outside expertise can help you juggle all of your financial goals, from saving up for your kids' college to buying a house to funding your dream retirement.
Use the tool below, powered by Bankrate, to get connected with a vetted financial professional and find the right match:
The shrinking middle class
As the share of middle-class households declined, the share of lower- and upper-income households increased, according to the Pew Research Center.
From 1971 to 2023, the share of Americans who lived in lower-income households increased from 27% to 30%, and the share who lived in upper-income households increased from 11% to 19%.
And while household incomes have risen across all income tiers since 1970, the gains for middle- and lower-income households are smaller than gains for upper-income households, creating a larger gap between upper-income households and other households.
The median income of middle-class households increased by 60% between 1970 and 2022, while the median income of upper-income households increased by 78%. The median income of lower-income households grew by only 55%.
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