The State of the American Middle Class
As the financial divide has grown, a smaller share of Americans now live in middle-class households. Here are key facts about this group.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
As the financial divide has grown, a smaller share of Americans now live in middle-class households. Here are key facts about this group.
While Black adults define personal and financial success in different ways, most see these measures of success as major sources of pressure in their lives.
Black Americans support significant reforms to or complete overhauls of several U.S. institutions to ensure fair treatment. Yet even as they assess inequality and ideas about progress, many are pessimistic about whether society and institutions will change in ways that would reduce racism.
The share of Asian Americans in the U.S. middle class has held steady since 2010, while the share in the upper-income tier has grown.
The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new analysis.
The 2020 census counted 126.8 million occupied households, representing 9% growth over the 116.7 million households counted in the 2010 census.
Nearly one-in-five middle-income families report receiving unemployment benefits in 2020.
Some 16% of Americans have ever earned money from an online gig platform. While most gig platform workers say they have had a positive experience with these jobs, some report facing on-the-job troubles like being treated rudely or sexually harassed.
Earnings overall have held steady through the pandemic in part because lower-wage workers experienced steeper job losses.
The abrupt closure of many offices and workplaces this past spring ushered in a new era of remote work for millions of employed Americans and may portend a significant shift in the way a large segment of the workforce operates in the future.
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