Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Search results for: “middle class”

Refine Your Results

  • report

    Chapter 4: Middle-Class Mobility

    A majority of middle-class adults say they have a better standard of living now than their parents had at the same stage of life, and a plurality say they expect their own children’s standard of living to eventually surpass their own. However, a somewhat smaller share holds these views now than in early 2008, when […]

  • report

    Chapter 3: Middle-class Economics

    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 […]

  • report

    Video: Lost Decade of the Middle Class

    Since 2000, the middle class has shrunk in size, fallen backward in income and wealth and shed some — but by no means all– of its characteristic faith in the future. Our new report explores how middle-class Americans view themselves, as well as their outlook on the future and on the presidential candidates who are […]

  • report

    Middle-Income Economics and Middle-Class Attitudes

    This posting describes and links to a new report, “The Lost Decade of the Middle Class,” that combines income data from the Census Bureau, wealth data from the Survey of Consumer Finances and findings from a new survey to paint a portrait of diminished finances and muted hopes.

  • report

    Second-Generation Americans

    Chapter 1: Overview Second-generation Americans—the 20 million adult U.S.-born children of immigrants—are substantially better off than immigrants themselves on key measures of socioeconomic attainment, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. They have higher incomes; more are college graduates and homeowners; and fewer live in poverty. In all of […]

  • report

    Public Says a Secure Job Is the Ticket to the Middle Class

    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 […]

  • report

    Yes, the Rich Are Different

    As Republicans gather for their national convention in Tampa to nominate a presidential candidate known, in part, as a wealthy businessman, a new nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds that many Americans believe the rich are different than other people. They are viewed as more intelligent and more hardworking but also greedier and less honest. […]

  • report

    How Does Pew Research Define the Middle Class?

    Senior research staff answer questions from readers relating to all the areas covered by our seven projects, ranging from polling techniques and findings, to media, technology, religious, demographic and global attitudes trends.

  • report

    References

    Bozick, Robert, and Erich Lauff. 2007. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences. “Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002): A First Look at the Initial Postsecondary Experiences of the High School Sophomore Class of 2002.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, October. Bricker, Jesse, Arthur B. Kennickell, Kevin B. Moore, and John Sabelhaus. […]