Middle Class Income Statistics (2026)

There is no official government definition of the middle class. The definition quoted most often comes from Pew Research Center, a research organization: middle-income households have an annual income between two-thirds and double the US median household income, after incomes are adjusted for household size. Households below two-thirds of the median are lower income, and households above double the median are upper income.

Applied to 2024 incomes in the Census Bureau's 2025 Current Population Survey, that rule puts a household of three in the middle class with an income between $66,700 and $200,000 (Pew Research Center, October 2026). Two years earlier, on 2022 incomes, the same rule gave a range of about $61,000 to $183,000 in 2023 dollars.

Pew uses the terms "middle income" and "middle class" interchangeably and says class can also mean education, type of job, home ownership, economic security or simply how people describe themselves. The income rule is the part Pew can measure every year from Census survey data.

Pew publishes its range for a three-person household, the closest whole number to the average US household size since 1970. To compare households of different sizes, it divides each household's income by the square root of the number of people in it, then scales the result back to three people (Pew methodology). A four-person household therefore needs about 15% more income than a three-person household to sit at the same point in the distribution, and a single person needs about 42% less.

Applying that method to Pew's 2024 range, a Walnut calculation, a single adult was middle income with about $38,500 to $115,500, a couple with about $54,500 to $163,300, and a family of four with about $77,000 to $230,900. A household of five needed about $86,100 to $258,200.

These ranges are national. Pew's local version, built on the American Community Survey, also adjusts for prices in each metro area, so the same household needs more income in an expensive metro than in a cheap one. In its 2024 calculator (2022 incomes), the national three-person range was about $56,600 to $169,800, while the lower bound was about $49,200 in Jackson, Tennessee, where prices were 13.0% below the national average, and about $66,700 in the San Francisco area, where they were 17.9% above (Pew Research Center calculator).

The Census Bureau put the US median household income at $87,460 in 2025, up 2.6% from $85,210 in 2024 after inflation, in its September 2026 report (Census, Income in the United States: 2025). The full breakdown of that median by race, education and age is on the average income statistics page.

Taking two-thirds and double of that median, a Walnut calculation, gives a range of about $58,300 to $174,900 for 2025. That simpler version ignores household size, so it runs lower than Pew's three-person range: the typical US household has fewer than three people, and Pew's scaling raises the dollar bounds for a household of three.

The American Community Survey, a larger Census survey with a different design, put the 2025 median at $84,780, up 1.2% from $83,808 (Census ACS brief ACSBR-028). Two-thirds to double of that figure is about $56,500 to $169,600, also a Walnut calculation. The CPS figure is the one Census treats as the official national median.

In Pew's framework there is no separate upper middle class: everyone above double the median is upper income, which in 2024 meant more than $200,000 for a household of three (Pew Research Center). The median upper-income household had $278,800 in 2024, up 25% from $222,800 in 2001 after inflation.

Other researchers draw the line elsewhere. Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution, a research organization, defined the upper middle class in 2015 as the top 20% of families by income and noted that the top fifth receives about half of all income. On the Census Bureau's 2025 figures, the top fifth of households begins at $182,400 (Census table H-1). Stephen Rose of the Urban Institute, a research organization, used fixed dollar bounds instead: $100,000 to $349,999 for a family of three in 2014 dollars, with the lower bound set at five times the poverty level.

Rose found the upper middle class grew from 12.9% of people in 1979 to 29.4% in 2014, while his core middle class fell from 38.8% to 32.0% and his lower middle class from 23.9% to 17.1%. In his estimate the upper middle class received 52% of all income in 2014. Those who start where the upper middle class ends, the top 1%, are covered on the top 1 percent income statistics page.

Under Pew's rule, a household of three with less than $66,700 in 2024 income was lower income (Pew Research Center). The median income of lower-income households was about $38,000, scaled to three people. Upper-income households had 7.3 times the median income of lower-income households in 2024, up from 6.8 in 2001.

Lower income is a much wider group than poor. The federal poverty guideline for a family of three in 2026 is $27,320 in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, $33,000 for a family of four and $15,960 for one person (HHS poverty guidelines). Pew's lower-income bound is about 2.4 times the three-person guideline, a Walnut calculation that mixes a 2024 income bound with a 2026 guideline.

The Urban Institute's scheme splits the bottom differently: poor and near-poor below $30,000 for a family of three in 2014 dollars (about 150% of the poverty level then), and lower middle class from $30,000 to $49,999 (Urban Institute). Its poor and near-poor group fell from 24.3% of people in 1979 to 19.8% in 2014.

About half of Americans live in middle-class households. Pew found that 61% of Americans lived in middle-income households in 1971 and 51% did in 2023, the latest year it has published (Pew Research Center, 2024). The shares count people by the income their household received in the prior calendar year.

Both ends grew. The share of Americans in lower-income households rose from 27% to 30%, and the share in upper-income households rose from 11% to 19%. Pew notes that the upper tier grew more than the lower one, so part of the shrinking middle reflects households moving up.

Pew's estimate from the American Community Survey, which also adjusts for local prices, is close: 52% of Americans were middle income in 2022, 28% lower income and 19% upper income (Pew Research Center). The CPS and ACS series differ slightly because only the ACS records where each household lives.

Middle-income households took 62% of all US household income in 1970, about the same as their share of the population. By 2022 they took 43%, less than their 51% share of people (Pew Research Center). Pew says the decline happened almost without fail in each decade.

Over the same period the upper-income share of aggregate income rose from 29% to 48%, partly because more people moved into the upper tier. The lower-income share edged down from 10% to 8%, even though the share of people in lower-income households went up.

In 1970 the middle class held 62% of income with 61% of people. In 2022 it held 43% of income with 51% of people, so its share of income fell further than its share of the population.

Middle-class incomes have risen, more slowly than incomes at the top. The median income of middle-income households grew 60% from 1970 to 2022, from about $66,400 to $106,100 in 2023 dollars, while upper-income households gained 78%, from about $144,100 to $256,900, and lower-income households 55%, from about $22,800 to $35,300 (Pew Research Center). Upper-income households had 2.4 times the median middle-income household's income in 2022, up from 2.2 in 1970.

Pew's 2026 update, in 2024 dollars, puts the median middle-income household at about $116,000 in 2024, up 22% since 2001. The upper tier rose 25% and the lower tier 17% over the same years (Pew Research Center, 2026). Middle-income medians were flat at $91,000 to $98,000 from 2001 to 2014 and climbed from 2015 on, though CPS revisions affect comparisons from 2014.

Census quintiles show a wider gap. In 2025 dollars, the middle fifth's mean income rose 46.6% between 1970 and 2025, the top fifth's 120.9% and the top 5%'s 157.9%, a Walnut calculation from Census table H-3. The income needed to reach the top of the middle fifth rose 55.0%, from $71,180 to $110,300, while the lower limit of the top 5% rose 120.6%, from $160,500 to $354,000 (table H-1).

The Census Bureau does not define a middle class, but it splits the 137.1 million US households into fifths every year. In 2025 the second fifth ended at $68,600, the middle fifth at $110,300 and the fourth fifth at $182,400. The top 5% of households started at $354,000 (Census table H-1).

Read that way, the middle 60% of households, a common broad definition of the middle class, had incomes from $35,800 to $182,400 in 2025. The middle fifth alone, the narrowest definition, ran from $68,600 to $110,300.

Each limit rose in 2025. In 2025 dollars, the top of the middle fifth went from $107,600 in 2024 to $110,300, and the top of the fourth fifth from $179,600 to $182,400. The quintile limits are household incomes, not adjusted for household size, so they are not comparable dollar for dollar with Pew's three-person range.

The middle fifth of households received 13.9% of all household income in 2025, the same as in 2024 and down from 17.4% in 1970 (Census table H-2). The fourth fifth received 22.5%, and the top fifth 52.4%. The top 5% alone received 23.5%, more than the middle fifth and the second fifth combined.

The middle fifth's share fell in nearly every decade: 16.8% in 1980, 15.9% in 1990, 14.8% in 2000 and 14.6% in 2010. Over the same span the top fifth's share went from 43.3% to 52.4%. The second fifth fell from 10.8% to 8.2%, and the lowest fifth from 4.1% to 3.0%.

These shares are of pre-tax money income. They are measured before taxes and leave out capital gains and noncash government benefits such as food stamps and housing subsidies.

The middle fifth of US households had a mean income of $88,250 in 2025, up from $85,980 in 2024 in 2025 dollars, a real gain of 2.6% (Census table H-3, gain a Walnut calculation). The fourth fifth averaged $142,500, the top fifth $331,800 and the top 5% $594,500. The lowest fifth averaged $19,100 and the second fifth $51,700.

The middle fifth's mean was $85,610 in 2019, so its real income in 2025 was about 3% above the pre-pandemic level. In 1970 the same group averaged $60,180 in today's dollars.

Because the middle fifth is a narrow band, its mean sits close to the overall median household income of $87,460.

What counts as middle class shifts with each state's median. In 2025 the District of Columbia had the highest median household income at $109,505, with New Jersey ($107,797) and Maryland ($107,700) not statistically different from it, and Mississippi had the lowest of any state at $59,346 (Census ACS brief ACSBR-028). Median income rose in 14 states, and California was the only state where it fell.

Using each state's own median, a Walnut calculation, two-thirds to double the median runs from about $73,000 to $219,000 in the District of Columbia, about $68,100 to $204,300 in California and about $55,100 to $165,200 in Texas. In Mississippi it runs from about $39,600 to $118,700. These are rough guides: they do not adjust for household size, and Pew itself measures against the national median, adjusting only for local prices.

Living costs explain much of the spread, which is why Pew adjusts for prices. Costs by state are on the cost of living statistics page.

After adjusting for local prices, the metros with the largest middle classes in 2022 were mostly in the northern half of the country. Dover, Delaware, led at 65%, followed by Olympia-Tumwater, Washington (64%), Glens Falls, New York (63%) and Bismarck, North Dakota (63%), among 222 metros with enough data (Pew Research Center). The smallest middle classes were in San Jose (42%), San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward (43%) and Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, Connecticut (43%).

Those same coastal metros had the largest upper-income shares: 40% in San Jose, 34% in San Francisco and 33% in Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk. The largest lower-income shares were along the Texas border and in California's Central Valley, led by McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, at 51%.

Pew's 2026 update measured the gap between tiers across 204 metros on 2024 incomes. Upper-income households had 9.7 times the median income of lower-income households in Iowa City, Iowa ($239,300 vs $24,600), and 5.7 times in Canton-Massillon, Ohio ($235,000 vs $41,200), the narrowest gap (Pew Research Center, 2026). Among the 25 most populous metros in the 2025 ACS, the median household income ranged from $79,203 in Detroit to $136,020 in San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (Census ACS).

About half of nearly every group is middle income, and the differences show up at the edges. In 2022, 55% of White Americans were middle class, 48% of Asian Americans, 49% of Hispanic Americans and 46% of Black Americans; 27% of Asian and 21% of White Americans were upper income, compared with about 10% or less of Black and Hispanic Americans (Pew Research Center).

By age, 38% of children and 35% of adults 65 and older lived in lower-income households, against 23% of adults ages 45 to 64. Married people were more likely to be middle or upper income (56% and 24%) than those who were separated, divorced, widowed or never married (50% and 13%).

Education separates the tiers most. Among adults 25 and older with a bachelor's degree, 52% were middle income and 35% upper income; among those who did not finish high school, 42% were middle income and 5% upper income. Among employed workers, 58% were middle income and 19% lower income.

Families in the middle fifth of the income distribution, the 40th to 60th percentiles, had a median net worth of $188,200 in 2025, up 8% from $174,400 in 2022 after inflation (Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances 2025). Their median income was $83,100. The 60th to 80th percentiles had a median net worth of $362,500, also up 8%.

The top of the distribution gained more. The median net worth of the top 10% by income rose 31% to $3.67 million, while the bottom 20% fell 6% to $14,400. The median for all families was $215,900, up 2%.

The Fed's report calls families between the 50th and 90th income percentiles the upper-middle group. In 2025, 77% of them owned stock directly or through retirement accounts, against 31% of the bottom half and 97% of the top 10%, and their homeownership rate slipped from 80% to 78% (Federal Reserve SCF). Pew's analysis of the 2022 SCF found middle-income household wealth rose 25% from 2001 to 2022, against 73% for upper-income households (Pew). More on wealth by group is on the average household net worth page.

Households between the 50th and 90th percentiles of wealth held 28.8% of US household net worth in the second quarter of 2026, about $53.4 trillion of $185.7 trillion (Federal Reserve Distributional Financial Accounts; the total is a Walnut sum of the groups). In the third quarter of 1989, when the series begins, they held 35.7%.

Their share fell to 32.9% by the end of 1999, 31.8% by the end of 2009 and 28.4% by the end of 2019. The top 1% held 32.5% in mid-2026 (a Walnut sum of the top 0.1% and the rest of the top 1%), more than the entire 50th-90th group.

Grouped by income, the picture is similar. Households in the 40th to 60th income percentiles held 7.5% of net worth in mid-2026, down from 12.5% in 1989, and the 60th to 80th percentiles held 13.1%, down from 16.6% (Fed DFA). The wider trend is on the wealth inequality statistics page.

The middle fifth of consumer units, with pre-tax incomes from $60,056 to $99,007, spent an average of $68,983 in 2025 on a mean pre-tax income of $78,584 (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2025). That spending equals 87.8% of pre-tax income, a Walnut calculation; spending in the BLS survey includes payments into pensions and Social Security but excludes income taxes.

Housing took the largest share at $24,487, or 35.5% of spending, followed by transportation at $12,265 (17.8%) and food at $9,701 (14.1%). Personal insurance and pensions, mostly Social Security and retirement contributions, took $6,748 (9.8%), and healthcare $6,099 (8.8%), of which $4,177 was health insurance.

Compared with the top fifth, the middle fifth spends a larger share on housing (35.5% vs 30.3%) and healthcare (8.8% vs 6.2%) and a smaller share on insurance and pensions (9.8% vs 17.7%). Rent alone took 10.6% of middle-fifth spending, since 38% of these households rent.

Far more Americans call themselves middle class than meet any income definition. In six Pew polls cited by the Urban Institute, about 9 in 10 respondents placed themselves in the upper middle, middle or lower middle class; 1% to 2% said upper class and 8% to 11% said lower class. Rose writes that people judge their class against neighbors with similar incomes.

Gallup, which offers a "working class" option, finds a smaller middle. In its November 2012 poll, 13% called themselves upper-middle class, 31% working class, 10% lower class and 2% upper class (Gallup, 2012). Among college graduates, 71% said they were middle or upper-middle class.

Pew also asks about inequality. In an August 2026 Pew survey of 5,166 adults, 61% said there is too much economic inequality in the US, unchanged from 2019; among them, 24% said the economic system needs to be completely rebuilt, up from 14% (Pew Research Center, 2026).

Where the middle class begins and ends depends on household size, location and whose definition is used. Across the sources here, its share of income and wealth has fallen since the 1970s and 1980s while its real income has risen. Income and wealth are measured separately: two households with the same middle-class income can have very different net worth, depending on home equity, retirement accounts and investments.

Walnut is an AI investing app that can read a connected brokerage account and describe what is in it. This page describes published data and is not financial advice.