This statistic shows the median household income in the United States from 1970 to 2020, by income tier. In 2020, the median household income for the middle class stood at 90,131 U.S. dollars, which was approximately a 50 percent increase from 1970. However, the median income of upper income households in the U.S. increased by almost 70 percent compared to 1970.

This is a historical measure for Strategic Direction 2023. For more data on Austin demographics please visit austintexas.gov/demographics. The purpose of this dataset is to track the distribution of aggregate city income between the 5 quintile of population segments. The dataset comes from the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau, American Communities Survey (5yr) Table B19082. The row levels contain total percentage of income shares by the middle 3 quintiles (20-80%) of population. This data can be used to provide insights into growth/decline of middle class. Distribution of household income (Note: This indicator can provide insights into growth/decline of middle class) View more details and insights related to this measure on the story page: https://data.austintexas.gov/stories/s/Distribution-of-Household-Income/i3a3-vjnc/

The Pew Research Center defines the middle class as households that earn between two-thirds and double the median U.S. household income, which was $65,000 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Using this measure, middle income is made up of households making between $43,350 and $130,000 annually.This map isolates 7 income brackets within the middle class income range, and maps the relative predominance of each income range across the country for census tracts, counties, and states. The brackets defined in the map, drawn from ACS Household Income Distribution data, are as follows:Households whose income in the past 12 months was $125,000 to $149,999Households whose income in the past 12 months was $100,000 to $124,999Households whose income in the past 12 months was $75,000 to $99,999Households whose income in the past 12 months was $60,000 to $74,999Households whose income in the past 12 months was $50,000 to $59,999Households whose income in the past 12 months was $45,000 to $49,999Households whose income in the past 12 months was $40,000 to $44,999Click on each feature reveals more detailed information in the pop-up regarding the current predominant income bracket and compares these figures to historical data. Information included in the pop-up:The total number of homes falling into the predominant Middle Class income bracketThe total number of homes compared to the 2010 - 2014 ACS Household Income Distribution Variables.The percent change in homes within the predominant income bracket between the current ACS, and 2010 - 2014 ACS and whether or not this change is considered statistically significant.This map uses the most current release of data from the American Community Survey (ACS) about household income ranges and cutoffs. Web Map originally owned by Summers Cleary

As of January 2022, the largest share of Chinese middle-class families had an annual income of between 100 thousand and 300 thousand yuan per year. According to the same survey, almost 90 percent of respondents have at least one child. Many middle-class families in China face significant financial burdens because not only do living costs continuously increase but they also often have to support their parents. In that case, one family has to care for four elders and least one kid.

Graph and download economic data for Real Median Family Income in the United States (MEFAINUSA672N) from 1953 to 2023 about family, median, income, real, and USA.

Disposable Income per Capita: Urban: Middle Income data was reported at 48,508.000 RMB in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 46,276.000 RMB for 2023. Disposable Income per Capita: Urban: Middle Income data is updated yearly, averaging 8,678.295 RMB from Dec 1985 (Median) to 2024, with 40 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 48,508.000 RMB in 2024 and a record low of 737.280 RMB in 1985. Disposable Income per Capita: Urban: Middle Income data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HD: Income by Income Level. Since 2013, All households in the sample are grouped, by per capita disposable income of the household, into groups of low income, lower middle income, middle income, upper middle income, and high income, each group consisting of 20%, 20%, 20%, 20%, and 20% of all households respectively.

Disposable Income per Capita: Middle Income data was reported at 33,925.000 RMB in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 32,195.000 RMB for 2023. Disposable Income per Capita: Middle Income data is updated yearly, averaging 24,111.810 RMB from Dec 2013 (Median) to 2024, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 33,925.000 RMB in 2024 and a record low of 15,697.999 RMB in 2013. Disposable Income per Capita: Middle Income data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HD: Income by Income Level.

Income statistics by economic family type and income source, annual.

By 2030, the middle-class population in Asia-Pacific is expected to increase from 1.38 billion people in 2015 to 3.49 billion people. In comparison, the middle-class population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase from 114 million in 2015 to 212 million in 2030.

Worldwide wealth

While the middle-class has been on the rise, there is still a huge disparity in global wealth and income. The United States had the highest number of individuals belonging to the top one percent of wealth holders, and the value of global wealth is only expected to increase over the coming years. Around 57 percent of the world’s population had assets valued at less than 10,000 U.S. dollars; while less than one percent had assets of more than million U.S. dollars. Asia had the highest percentage of investable assets in the world in 2018, whereas Oceania had the highest percent of non-investable assets.

The middle-class

The middle class is the group of people whose income falls in the middle of the scale. China accounted for over half of the global population for middle-class wealth in 2017. In the United States, the debate about the middle class “disappearing” has been a popular topic due to the increase in wealth to the top billionaires in the nation. Due to this, there have been arguments to increase taxes on the rich to help support the middle-class.

In the Middle Eastern region, the share of the population that earned at least the equivalent of the highest 40 percent of global income earners as of 2022 in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms was 81.5 percent. Saudi Arabia topped the list with the highest share of middle-class and above category of consumers in the Middle East. In Saudi Arabia the share of middle class and above consumer share was 100 percent.

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for Low and Middle Income Countries (SPPOPTOTLLMY) from 1960 to 2023 about income and population.

GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) in Low & middle income was reported at 5265 USD in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Low & middle income - GDP per capita (constant 2000 US$) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on April of 2025.

United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 20% data was reported at 46.900 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 46.400 % for 2013. United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 20% data is updated yearly, averaging 46.000 % from Dec 1979 (Median) to 2016, with 11 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 46.900 % in 2016 and a record low of 41.200 % in 1979. United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 20% data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Percentage share of income or consumption is the share that accrues to subgroups of population indicated by deciles or quintiles. Percentage shares by quintile may not sum to 100 because of rounding.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

This dataset contains replication files for "The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940" by Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, and Jimmy Narang. For more information, see https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/the-fading-american-dream/. A summary of the related publication follows. One of the defining features of the “American Dream” is the ideal that children have a higher standard of living than their parents. We assess whether the U.S. is living up to this ideal by estimating rates of “absolute income mobility” – the fraction of children who earn more than their parents – since 1940. We measure absolute mobility by comparing children’s household incomes at age 30 (adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index) with their parents’ household incomes at age 30. We find that rates of absolute mobility have fallen from approximately 90% for children born in 1940 to 50% for children born in the 1980s. Absolute income mobility has fallen across the entire income distribution, with the largest declines for families in the middle class. These findings are unaffected by using alternative price indices to adjust for inflation, accounting for taxes and transfers, measuring income at later ages, and adjusting for changes in household size. Absolute mobility fell in all 50 states, although the rate of decline varied, with the largest declines concentrated in states in the industrial Midwest, such as Michigan and Illinois. The decline in absolute mobility is especially steep – from 95% for children born in 1940 to 41% for children born in 1984 – when we compare the sons’ earnings to their fathers’ earnings. Why have rates of upward income mobility fallen so sharply over the past half-century? There have been two important trends that have affected the incomes of children born in the 1980s relative to those born in the 1940s and 1950s: lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates and greater inequality in the distribution of growth. We find that most of the decline in absolute mobility is driven by the more unequal distribution of economic growth rather than the slowdown in aggregate growth rates. When we simulate an economy that restores GDP growth to the levels experienced in the 1940s and 1950s but distributes that growth across income groups as it is distributed today, absolute mobility only increases to 62%. In contrast, maintaining GDP at its current level but distributing it more broadly across income groups – at it was distributed for children born in the 1940s – would increase absolute mobility to 80%, thereby reversing more than two-thirds of the decline in absolute mobility. These findings show that higher growth rates alone are insufficient to restore absolute mobility to the levels experienced in mid-century America. Under the current distribution of GDP, we would need real GDP growth rates above 6% per year to return to rates of absolute mobility in the 1940s. Intuitively, because a large fraction of GDP goes to a small fraction of high-income households today, higher GDP growth does not substantially increase the number of children who earn more than their parents. Of course, this does not mean that GDP growth does not matter: changing the distribution of growth naturally has smaller effects on absolute mobility when there is very little growth to be distributed. The key point is that increasing absolute mobility substantially would require more broad-based economic growth. We conclude that absolute mobility has declined sharply in America over the past half-century primarily because of the growth in inequality. If one wants to revive the “American Dream” of high rates of absolute mobility, one must have an interest in growth that is shared more broadly across the income distribution.

In India, the share of the population that earned at least the equivalent of the highest 40 percent of global income earners as of 2022 in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms was 41 percent. Hyderabad topped the list with the highest share of middle-class and above category of consumers. Cities from south India topped the list with the first four ranks, followed by the national capital, Delhi.

Graph and download economic data for Real Median Personal Income in the United States (MEPAINUSA672N) from 1974 to 2023 about personal income, personal, median, income, real, and USA.

United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data was reported at 30.600 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 30.100 % for 2013. United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data is updated yearly, averaging 30.100 % from Dec 1979 (Median) to 2016, with 11 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 30.600 % in 2016 and a record low of 25.300 % in 1979. United States US: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Percentage share of income or consumption is the share that accrues to subgroups of population indicated by deciles or quintiles.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

Disposable Income per Capita: Low Income data was reported at 9,542.000 RMB in 2024. This records an increase from the previous number of 9,215.000 RMB for 2023. Disposable Income per Capita: Low Income data is updated yearly, averaging 6,910.430 RMB from Dec 2013 (Median) to 2024, with 12 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9,542.000 RMB in 2024 and a record low of 4,402.435 RMB in 2013. Disposable Income per Capita: Low Income data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Household Survey – Table CN.HD: Income by Income Level.

Korea Imports: Low- and Middle-Income Economies: % of Total Goods Imports: Latin America & The Caribbean data was reported at 2.673 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 2.543 % for 2015. Korea Imports: Low- and Middle-Income Economies: % of Total Goods Imports: Latin America & The Caribbean data is updated yearly, averaging 1.896 % from Dec 1961 (Median) to 2016, with 56 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 5.491 % in 1985 and a record low of 0.012 % in 1972. Korea Imports: Low- and Middle-Income Economies: % of Total Goods Imports: Latin America & The Caribbean data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Korea – Table KR.World Bank: Imports. Merchandise imports from low- and middle-income economies in Latin America and the Caribbean are the sum of merchandise imports by the reporting economy from low- and middle-income economies in the Latin America and the Caribbean region according to the World Bank classification of economies. Data are expressed as a percentage of total merchandise imports by the economy. Data are computed only if at least half of the economies in the partner country group had non-missing data.; ; World Bank staff estimates based data from International Monetary Fund's Direction of Trade database.; Weighted average;

This poll, fielded April 1-5, 2009, is a part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way Barack Obama was handling the presidency and issues such as the economy and foreign policy. A series of questions addressed the Obama Administration's approach to solving economic problems and whether the administration's policies favored the rich, the middle class, or the poor. Respondents gave their opinions of First Lady Michelle Obama, the United States Congress, the Republican and Democratic parties, and whether President Obama or the Republicans in Congress were more likely to make the right decisions about the national economy and national security. Views were sought on President Obama's proposed budget plan, including changes in federal income taxes and government spending, and proposals to give financial assistance to the banking and automotive industries. A series of questions addressed the condition of the national economy, the most important economic problem facing the nation, the financial situation of the respondent's household, and how the recession was affecting their life. Respondents compared their current standard of living with that of their parents at the same age and gave their expectations about the standard of living of their children. Other questions asked respondents what the phrase "American dream" meant to them and whether they had achieved the "American dream" or expected to in their lifetime. Additional topics addressed the bonuses given to AIG insurance company executives, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, international trade, health insurance coverage, and government spending on cancer research. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, education level, marital status, household income, employment status, perceived social class, political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration status and participation history, religious preference, whether respondents had children under the age of 18 years, and whether respondents considered themselves to be a born-again Christian.