---
title: "Appendix: Defining income tiers"
description: "To create upper-, middle- and lower-income tiers, respondents’ 2019 family incomes were adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and for household size. “Middle-income” adults live in families with annual incomes that are two-thirds to double the median family income in the panel (after incomes have been adjusted for the local cost of […]"
date: "2021-05-17"
authors:
  - name: "Reem Nadeem"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/05/17/scope-of-government-appendix/"
---

# Appendix: Defining income tiers

To create upper-, middle- and lower-income tiers, respondents’ 2019 family incomes were adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and for household size. “Middle-income” adults live in families with annual incomes that are two-thirds to double the median family income in the panel (after incomes have been adjusted for the local cost of living and for household size). The middle-income range for the American Trends Panel is about $38,900 to $116,800 annually for an average family of three. Lower-income families have incomes less than roughly $38,900, and upper-income families have incomes greater than roughly $116,800 (all figures expressed in 2019 dollars).

Based on these adjustments, 32% are lower income, 45% are middle income and 19% fall into the upper-income tier. An additional 4% either didn’t offer a response to the income question or the household size question.

For more information about how the income tiers were determined, please see [here](https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2020/09/24/covid-19-financial-hardships-methodology/).