Through an American lens, Western Europe’s middle classes appear smaller
The American middle class is smaller than middle classes across Western Europe, but its income is higher.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The American middle class is smaller than middle classes across Western Europe, but its income is higher.
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.
Our new calculator allows you to see which group you fit in, first compared with all American adults, and then compared with other adults similar to you in education, age, race or ethnicity, and marital status.
The American middle class is losing ground in metropolitan areas across the country, affecting communities from Boston to Seattle and from Dallas to Milwaukee.
The American middle class is losing ground in metropolitan areas across the country, affecting communities from Boston to Seattle and from Dallas to Milwaukee.
Major U.S. metro areas mapped by low, middle and upper income tiers. Data is from 2014.
The vast majority of American adults agree that a secure job and the ability to save money for the future are essential. But one thing is now less likely to be seen as a requirement: a college education.
As Americans begin casting the first ballots in the 2016 presidential election, neither political party is widely viewed as supportive of the middle class in this country.
Hispanic and black parents are significantly more likely than white parents to place a high priority on college education for their children.
After more than four decades of serving as the nation’s economic majority, the U.S. middle class is now matched in size by those in the economic tiers above and below it.
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