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What counts as middle class depends on who and where you’re asking. Even if two households, say a single-person household in Montana and a five-person in California, earn the same income, the latter probably has more expenses than the former. The Washington Post broke it down with various comparisons. Enter a ZIP Code to see where you are.
Tags: income, middle class, Washington Post
Posted by in income, middle class, Statistical Visualization, Washington Post
Income distribution continues to stretch on the high end and squish on the low end. For The New York Times, Sophie Kasakove and Robert Gebeloff look closer at what’s happening in the middle:
Nationally, only half of American families living in metropolitan areas can say that their neighborhood income level is within 25 percent of the regional median. A generation ago, 62 percent of families lived in these middle-income neighborhoods.
Tags: income, middle class
Posted by in income, middle class, Statistical Visualization
The meaning of "middle-income" changes a lot depending on where you live and your household size. Read More
Posted by in Data Underload, income, middle class
The Upshot has a detailed, chart-filled summary of the shrinking middle class, categorized by age, education, race, and family status.
The middle class, if defined as households making between $35,000 and $100,000 a year, shrank in the final decades of the 20th century. For a welcome reason, though: More Americans moved up into what might be considered the upper middle class or the affluent. Since 2000, the middle class has been shrinking for a decidedly more alarming reason: Incomes have fallen.
The key is that post-2000 mark. Middle income consistently down, but lower income up and upper income down.
Tags: income, middle class, Upshot
Posted by in income, middle class, Statistical Visualization, Upshot