Just how big is the middle class in America? That depends on how you define it. But if you ask Americans how they view themselves, the middle class seems pretty damn big. In fact, in a recent poll almost nine out of 10 Americans called themselves some version of “middle class”.
The Pew Research survey found that about 47 per cent of Americans called themselves solidly middle class. Roughly 11 per cent said they were upper-middle class, and 29 per cent said they were lower-middle class. Just 1 per cent of Americans called themselves “upper class”, while 10 per cent called themselves “lower class”.
That leaves 87 per cent of Americans calling themselves “middle class” in some way or another. Which is curious, because we continue to hear about the disappearance of the middle class in America. In fact, 45.3 million Americans live in what the Census Bureau considers poverty. And 1 in 5 American households with children are food insecure.
“There is a very big difference between the psychological self-definition of class and anything approaching a useful economic definition of class,” Richard Reeves, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution recently told the New York Times.
Translation: Americans, no matter what their income, aspire to be identified as middle class. Even people who may take home significantly more than average.
The government doesn’t have any strict definition of what “middle class” means. But it might be news to many Americans that “lower middle class” isn’t a term used in much of the developed world. Those 29 per cent of Americans who identify as lower middle class would more likely call themselves working class in many other parts of the world.
But, whatever we call it, America is still struggling to provide the most basic services for many of its people. Including many in the so-called “middle class”.
[New York Times, Pew Research]
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