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 statistic shows the average income of a middle class family in the United States in 2014, by state. In 2014, the average middle-class family in Alaska had an income of ****** U.S. dollars per year. This was significantly higher than the national average of ****** U.S. dollars.

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.

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 *** thousand and *** thousand yuan per year. According to the same survey, almost ** 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.

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

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.

By 2030, the middle-class population in Asia-Pacific is expected to increase from **** billion people in 2015 to **** billion people. In comparison, the middle-class population of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to increase from *** million in 2015 to *** 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 ** percent of the world’s population had assets valued at less than 10,000 U.S. dollars, while less than *** percent had assets of more than one million U.S. dollars. Asia had the highest percentage of investable assets in the world in 2018, whereas Oceania had the highest percentage 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 among 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.

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.

This folder contains files to help you replicate the analyses from the study "The Myth of the Middle Class Squeeze: Employment and Income by Class in Six Western Countries, 1980-2020". The study uses data from the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS, 2024). To access this data, you must request access to the LIS data by visiting this website: https://www.lisdatacenter.org/data-access/lissy/eligibility/. Once you have access, you can use the codes in this folder to analyze the data. The analysis was conducted in R, and all the packages used are included in the R scripts. Note: The LIS data are not directly accessible. Instead, researchers can access an online platform to submit their analysis codes. The platform then returns the results. You can't download or physically access the data, but you can still use the codes provided here to get the same results as the original study. The LIS regularly updates new modules and revises old ones. This project started in 2022 and, therefore, uses the selection of countries released in LIS in that year. The final execution of this set of modules was done in 2024. To ensure you get the same results, please select the modules in the code and run them on the 2024 release.

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.

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 July of 2025.

This statistic shows the percentage of the U.S. adult population that belong to the middle class from 1971 to 2015, by age. In 2015, about 50 percent of U.S. adult residents were part of the middle class.

This study defined middle class income households as those with an income between 67 and 200 percent of the U.S. median household income, after adjustment for household size. Middle class income ranges from about 42,000 U.S. dollars to about 126,000 U.S. dollars per year for a three-person household.

Graph and download economic data for Median Household Income in California (MEHOINUSCAA646N) from 1984 to 2023 about CA, households, median, income, and USA.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for Low and Middle Income Countries (SPPOPTOTLLMY) from 1960 to 2024 about income and population.

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.

Income of individuals by age group, sex and income source, Canada, provinces and selected census metropolitan areas, annual.

In striking contrast to the notion that democracy is under threat because ‘the middle’ has been ‘squeezed’ over recent decades, Iversen and Soskice (2019) in their book, Democracy and Prosperity, present an optimistic account about the future of democracy. This paper examines their key assumption that the symbiosis between democracy and advanced capitalism is underpinned by electorally decisive middle-class voters that secure a constant share of economic growth. Using comprehensive data on income trends, it is shown that this claim does not stand up to scrutiny: median income has often lagged behind the mean in household surveys, rather than kept pace with it as Iversen and Soskice claim. Strong real income growth has generally not compensated the middle for lagging behind. The varying fortunes of the middle in securing its share of economic growth have implications for the broader debate about inequality and democracy.

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/