What Is Considered Middle Class? Are You in America's Middle Class?

Middle-class income is between 67 percent and 200 percent of the average median income. That's according to the Pew Research Center. There's no official U.S. government definition of middle-class income, as there is of the federal poverty level.

The average median income is exactly in the middle of the range of incomes. Half of Americans make more and the other half make less. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the average median income was $56,516 per household in 2015.

A household is any group of people who live together.

Using the Pew Research percentages, that means households making less than $37,866 are low income. Households earning at least $113,032 are high income.
Current Middle-Class Income Range

What proportion of the 125.8 million U.S. households falls into each income range? The Census Bureau ranges don't coincide exactly with the Pew definitions, but this will give you a general idea.

The table below shows that 32 percent of households are low income. They earn less than $35,000 a year. They fall within Pew's low-income range of $0-$37,866 per year. Within this low-income group are those who live below the federal poverty line. That means 22 percent of all households earn less than $25,000 a year.

Around 42 percent of households are middle class. They earn between $35,000 and $100,000 a year.

A little more than 26 percent of households earn more than $100,000 a year.

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