During election season, you’ll often hear political talking points surrounding the middle class. That may leave you wondering — are you even in the middle class?
More than half of U.S. adults live in a middle-income household, a recent Pew Research Center analysis determined.
Pew defines a middle-income household (specifically, a family of three) as one that earns between $56,600 and $169,800 in 2022 dollars. Using the Labor Department’s inflation calculator, that adjusts to roughly $60,882 and $182,646 in 2024 dollars.
That range will, however, vary based on where you live and how many people you live with.
Pew’s calculator can account for that.
Let’s say, for example, you live alone near Cleveland, Ohio, which had one of the lowest thresholds to break into the middle class in an analysis by SmartAsset earlier this year.
Based on Pew Research’s latest calculator, you would need to earn just $30,090 to be considered middle-class (technically, this data is based on nearby Akron). If you wanted to be in the upper class, you’d need a pre-tax income of $90,250. If there were four people in your household, the middle-class range would adjust to $60,165 and $180,400.
Both upper ends for Akron’s middle-class rankings would be square in the middle-class in San Francisco, California, one of the more expensive metros reviewed by Pew Research and SmartAsset. There, a single person would be considered middle-class if they were earning between $38,527 and $115,580. A family of four would need a pre-tax income between $77,050 and $231,155 to maintain middle-class status.
Where do you rank? You can use Pew’s calculator below to find out:
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Overall, Pew found that the share of residents living in middle-class households was lowest in San Jose at 42%. While the majority of San Jose residents were in that group, nearly 41% were in the upper-class, the highest proportion of the 254 metro areas analyzed by Pew.
Olympia, Washington, had the highest percentage of residents in the middle-class at 66%. About 20% of Olympia residents are considered lower-class while 14% are upper class.
In Bismarck, North Dakota, roughly 16% of adults live in a lower-income household, the lowest rate of the cities reviewed. Laredo, Texas, had the largest lower-income population at 46%.
A separate Pew Research study recently found that the portion of Americans living in a middle-class household in 2023 is now 10% from 1971, while the share of Americans living in lower-income or upper-income households is up 3% and 8%, respectively.
Personal finance site MoneyGeek reviewed 600 cities to determine where the middle class has been shrinking. Overall, it found that 367 cities saw a decline in the size of their middle class between 2017 and 2022.
Springdale, Arkansas, and Carmel, Indiana, their middle classes shrink by double-digit percentage points over that five year time period. In those cities, Pew’s calculations show a single person would need just $29,648 and $30,622 to be middle class, respectively.
Alix Martichoux contributed to this report.