How the American middle class has changed in the past five decades
The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new analysis.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new analysis.
In the United States, the transience of economic status varies significantly across racial and ethnic groups and by level of education.
The course of the pandemic in India and China will have a substantial effect on changes in the distribution of income at the global level.
Seven-in-ten U.S. adults say the U.S. economic system unfairly favors powerful interests. Less than a third say the system is generally fair.
Over the past 50 years, the highest-earning 20% of U.S. households have steadily brought in a larger share of the country’s total income.
Millennials are the largest adult generation in the United States, and the American family continues to change.
While the size of the U.S. middle class remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2016, financial gains for middle-income Americans were modest compared with those of higher-income households.
The American middle class is smaller than middle classes across Western Europe, but its income is higher.
In the U.S., the racial and ethnic wealth gap has evolved differently for families at different income levels since the Great Recession.
As part of a new study, Pew Research Center designed income calculators to help you determine where you fit on the income ladder in Western Europe.
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