Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Record shares of young adults are completing high school, going to college and finishing college, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available census data. In 2012, for the first time ever, one-third of the nation’s 25- to 29-year-olds have completed at least a bachelor’s degree. These across-the-board increases have occurred despite dramatic […]
The Census Bureau has released new U.S. population projections that assume a markedly lower level of growth than the agency predicted in the previous projections in 2008. Most of the reduced growth is due to lower projected immigration, but the bureau also forecast lower birth rates than it previously assumed.
Completion of four-year college degrees is up sharply in the past five years among the nation’s young adults. In 2012 a record one-third of adults ages 25 to 29 have attained at least a bachelor’s degree. As recently as 2006 fewer than 30% of 25- to 29-year-olds had finished at least a bachelor’s degree. Record […]
Overview The record generation gap that played out at the voting booth in the last two presidential elections is echoed by large differences by age in attitudes about the tradeoff between reducing the federal deficit and preserving entitlements for older adults, according to a new nationwide Pew Research Center survey. Older adults by a lopsided […]
The percentage of Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower class has risen from a quarter of the adult population to about a third in the past four years, according to a national survey of 2,508 adults by the Pew Research Center. Not only has the lower class grown, but its demographic […]
Americans believe that having a secure job is by far the most important requirement for being in the middle class, easily trumping homeownership and a college education, according to a new nationwide Pew Research Center survey of 2,508 adults. Nearly nine-in-ten adults (86%) say a person needs a secure job to be considered part of […]
A somewhat larger share of middle-class adults believe that the policies of President Obama will help the middle class than say the same about the policies of Republican hopeful Mitt Romney, according to the Pew Research survey. The survey also finds a much wider gap in perceptions about which party favors the rich—62% of middle-class […]
Asked to place themselves on a five-step socioeconomic ladder, about half of Americans (49%) say they are in the middle, according to the Pew Research survey. In a similar survey taken in 2008, 53% of adults placed themselves in the middle class. An additional 17% of the public places itself in the upper or upper […]
Over the past decade, the Great Recession, a housing market collapse, an unemployment surge and an anemic recovery have squeezed the middle class. An overwhelming majority of middle-class Americans (85%) say it is more difficult today than 10 years ago for those in the middle class to maintain their standard of living, according to a […]
The Pew Research Center has published a number of recent reports that are relevant to the new Census Bureau numbers for the 2011 poverty rate, median household income and people without health insurance. This posting lists and links to reports about Americans’ attitudes toward their own economic circumstances and views on helping the poor, as well as analysis and explanation about poverty and economic well-being.
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