Middle-income adults with higher levels of education are more likely to progress to the upper-income tier | Pew Research Center

May 6, 2022

Black and Hispanic Americans, those with less education are more likely to fall out of the middle class each year

Middle-income adults with higher levels of education are more likely to progress to the upper-income tier

Middle-income adults with higher levels of education are more likely to progress to the upper-income tier

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Middle-income adults with higher levels of education are more likely to progress to the upper-income tier

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Black and Hispanic Americans, those with less education are more likely to fall out of the middle class each year
Most middle-class Americans stay in that income tier from one year to the next, but about one-in-four or more move up or down a tier in any given year
Middle-income Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to move down to the lower-income tier than up
About half of upper-income Black and Hispanic adults slip down the income ladder in a typical year; smaller shares move up from the lower-income tier
Middle-income adults with higher levels of education are more likely to progress to the upper-income tier
In a typical year, more than half of upper-income adults with no college education fall down to the middle- or lower-income tier