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{{short description|Social class in the United States}}
{{for|the album by Angaleena Presley|American Middle Class (album)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
Though the '''American middle class''' does not have a definitive definition,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0510/p09s01-codc.html|title=One more social security quibble: Who is Middle Class?|author=Dante Chinni|work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|date=May 10, 2005|access-date=September 11, 2006}}</ref> contemporary social scientists have put forward several ostensibly congruent theories on it. Depending on the class model used, the middle class constitutes anywhere from 25% to 75% of households.

One of the first major studies of the middle class in America was ''[[White Collar: The American Middle Classes]]'', published in 1951 by [[sociologist]] [[C.&nbsp;Wright Mills]]. Later sociologists such as [[Dennis Gilbert (sociologist)|Dennis Gilbert]] commonly divide the middle class into two sub-groups: the professional or [[upper middle class]] (~15-20% of all households) consisting of highly educated, salaried professionals and managers, and the [[lower middle class]] (~33% of all households) consisting mostly of semi-professionals, skilled craftsmen and lower-level management.<ref name="Society in Focus">{{cite book |last=Thompson |first=William |title=Society in Focus |author2=Joseph Hickey |publisher=Pearson |year=2005 |isbn=0-205-41365-X |location=Boston, MA}}</ref><ref name="Williams-2005">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Brian|author2=Stacey C. Sawyer |author3=Carl M. Wahlstrom |year=2005|title=Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships|publisher=Pearson|location=Boston, MA|isbn=0-205-36674-0}}</ref> Middle-class persons commonly have a comfortable standard of living, significant economic security, considerable [[work autonomy]] and rely on their expertise to sustain themselves.<ref name="Gilbert-1998">{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Dennis|year=1998|title=The American Class Structure|publisher=Wadsworth Publishing|location=New York|isbn=0-534-50520-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/americanclassstr0000gilb_c7f2}}</ref>

Members of the middle class belong to diverse groups which overlap with each other. Overall, middle-class persons, especially upper-middle-class individuals, are characterized by conceptualizing, creating and consulting. Thus, [[Educational attainment in the United States|college education]] is one of the main indicators of middle-class status. Largely attributed to the nature of middle-class occupations, middle class values tend to emphasize independence, adherence to intrinsic standards, valuing innovation and respecting [[Dissent|non-conformity]].<ref name="Society in Focus"/><ref name="Gilbert-1998"/> The middle class is more [[Political ideologies in the United States|politically]] active than other demographics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/07/11/dean/index.html |author=John B. Judis |date=July 11, 2003 |title=The trouble with Howard Dean |work=[[Salon.com]] |access-date=July 19, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713020535/http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2003/07/11/dean/index.html |archive-date=July 13, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The middle classes are very influential as they encompass the majority of voters, writers, teachers, journalists and editors.<ref name="test">[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2007/1/2007_1_23.shtml John Steele Gordon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080420194514/http://americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2007/1/2007_1_23.shtml |date=April 20, 2008 }} "10 Moments That Made American Business", ''American Heritage'', February/March 2007.</ref> Most societal trends in the U.S. originate within the middle classes.<ref name="Ehrenreich-1989">{{cite book|last=Ehrenreich|first=Barbara|year=1989|title=Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class|publisher=Harper Collins|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-06-097333-1|url=https://archive.org/details/fearoffallinginn00ehre}}</ref>

According to a 2021 [[Pew Research Center|Pew Research]] study that classifies adults as middle class if they belong to a household with income between 2/3 and 2x median [[Household income in the United States|household income]] ($52k-$156k for a household of three), the percentage of Americans in the middle class declined from 61% to 50% over the previous five decades (1971-2021) with 4% moving down into the lower class and 7% moving up into the upper class.{{ r | Pew_2024-04-20 }} In 2019, as defined by the Future of the Middle Class Initiative to be the middle 60 percent of the income distribution, and looking only at individuals 25-54: 59 percent were white, 18 percent Hispanic, 12 percent Black, and 10 percent “other.”<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-middle-class-is-already-racially-diverse/ | last1=Pulliam | first1=Christoper | last2=Reeves | first2=Richard | last3=Shiro | first3=Ariel | title=The middle class is already racially diverse | date=2020-10-30 }}</ref>

==Definition==
{{main|Social class in American history}}
Scholars have a variety of technical measures of who is  middle-class. By contrast public opinion has a variety of implicit measures. The definitions seem to stretch quite a great deal depending on the political cause that is being invoked or defended, as one commentator noted:
{{blockquote|Well, it depends on whom you ask. Everyone wants to believe they are middle class. For people on the bottom and the top of the wage scale the phrase connotes a certain Regular Joe cachet. But this eagerness to be part of the group has led the definition to be stretched like a bungee cord - used to defend/attack/describe everything from the Earned Income Tax Credit to the estate tax.<ref>Dante Chinni, "One more Social Security quibble: Who is middle class?" [http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0510/p09s01-codc.html ''Christian Science Monitor'' MAY 10, 2005]</ref>}}

Some scholars have emphasized factors such as education and culture. Those households more or less at the center of society may be referred to as being part of the American middle or "middle-middle class" in vernacular language use. In some academic models of social class, however, the middle class does not constitute a strong majority of the population. Those in the middle of the socio-economic strata—the proverbial "[[Average Joe]]"—are commonly in the area where the working and lower middle classes overlap.<ref name="Society in Focus" />

===Education===
[[Higher education in the United States|Tertiary education]] (or "higher education") is required for many middle-class professions, depending on how the term middle class is to be defined.<ref name="Ehrenreich-1989"/> [[Educational attainment in the United States|Educational attainment]] is also directly linked to income.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf|title=United States Census Bureau report on educational attainment in the United States, 2003|access-date=January 12, 2006}}</ref>

Although 90% of the population has graduated from high school, the average American does not have a college degree, but has likely attended college for some time. Overall, educational attainment serves as the perhaps most essential class feature of the middle class, being directly linked to [[Personal income in the United States|income]] and occupation. Per the table below, as of 2018 less than half of American adults over the age of 25 had an Associate's degree or higher, and less than 40% had a Bachelor's degree or higher.

{| class=wikitable
|+Educational attainment in the United States (2018)<ref>Note that these add up to more than 100% because they are cumulative; e.g. it is assumed that all people with doctorates also have undergraduate and high school degrees, and are thus counted twice in the "lower" categories. Age 25 is used rather than age 18 because there are few people aged 18 or over with advanced degrees. {{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2018/demo/education-attainment/cps-detailed-tables.html|title=Educational Attainment in the United States: 2018|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=June 23, 2018}} Percentages are calculated based on census data by counting people that had attained that level or higher.</ref>
! Education
! Age 25 and over
! Age 25-30
|-
| High school diploma or [[General Educational Development|GED]]
| align=right| 89.80%
| align=right| 92.95%
|-
| Some college
| align=right| 61.28%
| align=right| 66.34%
|-
| Associate degree
| align=right| 45.16%
| align=right| 46.72%
|-
| Bachelor's degree
| align=right| 34.98%
| align=right| 36.98%
|-
| Master's degree
| align=right| 13.04%
| align=right| 9.01%
|-
| Professional degree
| align=right| 3.47%
| align=right| 2.02%
|-
| Doctorate
| align=right| 2.03%
| align=right| 1.12%
|}

A 2021 Pew Research study that classifies adults as middle class if they belong to a household with income between 2/3 and 2x median household income ($52k-$156k for a household of three) found that 48% of adults with Bachelor's degrees were considered middle class (while 39% of adults with Bachelor's degrees were upper class).<ref name=Pew_2024-04-20 > {{ cite web | url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/20/how-the-american-middle-class-has-changed-in-the-past-five-decades/ | title=How the American middle class has changed in the past five decades | last1=Kochhar | first1=Rakesh | last2=Sechopoulos | first2=Stella  | work=[[Pew Research Center]] | date=2022-04-20 | quote=The share of adults who live in middle-class households fell from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2021, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data. The shrinking of the middle class has been accompanied by an increase in the share of adults in the upper-income tier – from 14% in 1971 to 21% in 2021 – as well as an increase in the share who are in the lower-income tier, from 25% to 29%. These changes have occurred gradually, as the share of adults in the middle class decreased in each decade from 1971 to 2011, but then held steady through 2021. }} </ref>

==Sub-divisions==
The middle class by one definition consists of an [[upper middle class]], made up of professionals distinguished by exceptionally high educational attainment as well as high economic security; and a [[lower middle class]], consisting of semi-professionals. While the groups overlap, differences between those at the center of both groups are considerable.

The lower middle class has lower educational attainment, considerably less [[workplace autonomy]], and lower incomes than the upper middle class. With the emergence of a two-tier labor market, the economic benefits and life chances of upper middle class professionals have grown considerably compared to those of the lower middle class.<ref name="Society in Focus"/><ref name="Gilbert-1998"/>

The lower middle class needs two income earners in order to sustain a comfortable standard of living, while many upper middle class households can maintain a similar standard of living with just one income earner.<ref name="Beth Potier-2003">{{cite web|url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/10.30/19-bankruptcy.html |title=Middle income can't buy Middle class lifestyle |author=Beth Potier |date=October 30, 2003 |publisher=Harvard Gazette |access-date=July 25, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623090832/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/10.30/19-bankruptcy.html |archive-date=June 23, 2006 |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref name="Griff Witte-2004">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34235-2004Sep19?language=printer|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527020324/http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34235-2004Sep19?language=printer|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 27, 2005|title=As Income Gap Widens, Uncertainty Spreads|author=Griff Witte|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 20, 2004|access-date=July 25, 2006}}</ref>

===Professional/managerial middle class===
{{Further|Upper middle class in the United States}}
The "[[professional–managerial class]]" consists mostly of highly educated [[White-collar worker|white collar]] salaried professionals, whose work is largely self-directed.<ref name="Society in Focus"/><ref name="Gilbert-1998"/><ref name="Eichar-1989">{{cite book|last=Eichar|first=Douglas|year=1989|title=Occupation and Class Consciousness in America|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=0-313-26111-3|url=https://archive.org/details/occupationclassc00eich}}</ref> Class members typically hold graduate degrees, with educational attainment serving as the main distinguishing feature of this class.<ref name="Society in Focus"/><ref name="US Census Bureau">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/p16.html |title=US Census Bureau, personal income by education |access-date=October 17, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061009023311/http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/p16.html |archive-date=October 9, 2006 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

These professionals typically conceptualize, create, consult, and supervise. As a result, upper middle class employees enjoy great autonomy in the work place and are more satisfied with their careers than non-professional middle class individuals. In terms of financial wealth income, the professional middle class fits in the [[Household income in the United States|top third]], but seldom reach the [[Income quintiles|top 5%]] of American society.<ref name="U"/> According to sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert, James M. Henslin, Joseph Hickey, and William Thompson, the upper middle class constitutes 15% of the population.<ref name="Society in Focus"/>

{{blockquote|The upper middle class has grown... and its composition has changed. Increasingly salaried managers and professionals have replaced individual business owners and independent professionals. The key to the success of the upper-middle-class is the growing importance of educational certification... its lifestyles and opinions are becoming increasingly normative for the whole society. It is in fact a porous class, open to people... who earn the right credentials.|Dennis Gilbert|''The American Class Structure'', 1998.<ref name="Gilbert-1997"/>}}

Values and mannerisms are difficult to pinpoint for a group encompassing millions of persons. Naturally, any large group of people will feature social diversity to some extent. However, some generalizations can be made using education and income as class defining criteria. William Thompson and Joseph Hickey noted that upper middle class individuals have a more direct and confident manner of speech.<ref name="Society in Focus"/> In her 1989 publication ''Effects of Social Class and Interactive Setting on Maternal Speech'', Erica Hoff-Ginsberg found that among her surveyed subjects, "upper-middle class mothers talked more per unit of time and sustained longer interactions with children". She also found that the speech of upper middle-class mothers differs "in its functional, discourse, and lexico-syntactic properties", from those in the working class.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/Home.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED309843&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=eric_accno&objectId=0900000b800472a5|title=Education resource information center, Effects of Social Class and Interactive Setting on Maternal Speech|access-date=January 27, 2007}}</ref>

Upper middle-class manners tend to require individuals to engage in conversational discourse with rather distant associates and to abstain from sharing excessive personal information. This contradicts working-class speech patterns, which often include frequent mentions of one's personal life.<ref>{{cite book|last=Zweig|first=Michael|year=2004|title=What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the Twenty-First Century|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-8014-8899-0}}</ref> Further research also suggests that working-class parents emphasize conformity, traditional [[gender role]]s, and the adherence to external standards in their children, such as being neat and clean and "[believing] in strict leadership".<ref>Gilbert, 1998.</ref> This contrasted with professional-class households, where gender roles were more egalitarian and loosely defined. Upper middle class children were largely taught to adhere to internal standards, with [[curiosity]], [[individuality]], [[self-direction]], and [[open-mindedness|openness to new ideas]] being emphasized.<ref name="Gilbert-1997">{{cite book|last=Gilbert|first=Dennis|year=1997|title=American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality|publisher=Wadsworth|isbn=978-0-534-50520-2|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/americanclassstr0000gilb_c7f2}}</ref>

===Lower middle class===<!-- This section is linked from Social class -->
[[File:US education attainment by year.svg|thumb|right|300px|US educational attainment from 1940 to 2015.]]
The lower middle class is the second most populous according to both Gilbert's as well as Thompson & Hickey's models, constituting roughly one third of the population, the same percentage as the working class. However, according to Henslin, who also divides the middle class into two sub-groups, the lower middle class is the most populous, constituting 34% of the population.<ref name="Williams-2005"/> In all three class models the lower middle class is said to consist of "semi-professionals" and lower level white collar employees. An adaptation by sociologists Brian K. William, Stacy C. Sawyer, and Carl M. Wahlstrom of Dennis Gilbert's class model gave the following description of the lower middle class:<ref name="Williams-2005"/>

{{blockquote|The lower middle class... these are people in technical and lower-level management positions who work for those in the upper middle class as lower managers, craftspeople, and the like. They enjoy a reasonably comfortable standard of living, although it is constantly threatened by taxes and inflation. Generally, they have a Bachelor's and sometimes Master's college degree.|Brian K. William, Stacy C. Sawyer and Carl M. Wahlstrom|''Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships'', 2006 (Adapted from Dennis Gilbert 1997; and Joseph Kahl 1993)<ref name="Williams-2005"/>}}

Taking into account the percentages provided in the six-class model by Gilbert, as well as the model of Thompson and Hickey, one can apply [[U.S.&nbsp;Census Bureau]] statistics regarding [[Income in the United States|income]]. According to these class models the lower middle class is located roughly between the 52nd and 84th percentile of society. In terms of personal income distribution in 2005, that would mean [[Personal income in the United States|gross annual personal incomes]] from about $32,500 to $60,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new01_001.htm |title=U.S. Census Bureau, distribution of personal income, 2006 |access-date=December 9, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214003616/http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new01_001.htm |archive-date=December 14, 2006 |url-status=dead  }}</ref>

As 42% of all households, and the majority of those in the top 40%, had two [[income earner]]s, [[Household income in the United States|household income figures]] would be significantly higher, ranging from roughly $50,000 to $100,000 in 2005.<ref name="U">{{cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/hhinc/new06_000.htm |title=U.S. Census 2005 Economic Survey, income data |access-date=June 29, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060630005924/http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/hhinc/new06_000.htm |archive-date=June 30, 2006 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> In terms of [[Educational attainment in the United States|educational attainment]], 27% of persons had a Bachelor's degree or higher.

===Working class majority===<!-- This section is linked from Social class -->
Seen from a sociological perspective based on class-cleavages, the majority of Americans can be described as members of the working class.<ref name="Vanneman-1988">{{cite book|last=Vanneman|first=Reeve|author2=Lynn Weber Cannon|year=1988|title=The American Perception of Class
|publisher=Temple University Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-87722-593-1 }}</ref>

The use of the term "working class" is applicable if the position of individuals, households and families in relation to the production of goods and services is the main determinant of social class. Class distinctions are seen in the distribution of individuals within society whose influence and importance differ. The nature of a person's work and the associated degrees of influence, responsibility, and complexity determine a person's social class. The higher the degree of influence and responsibility a person has or the more complex the work, the higher his or her status in society.<ref name="Social Class and Stratification">{{cite book|last=Levine|first=Rhonda|year=1998|title=Social Class and Stratification|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=0-8476-8543-8|url=https://archive.org/details/socialclassstrat00levi}}</ref>

As qualified personnel become scarce for relatively important, responsible, and complex occupations [[Household income in the United States|income]] increases, following the economic theory of scarcity resulting in value. According to this approach, occupation becomes more essential in determining class than income.<ref name="Social Class and Stratification"/> Whereas professionals tend to create, conceptualize, consult and instruct, most Americans do not enjoy a high degree of independence in their work, as they merely follow set instructions.<ref name="Ehrenreich-1989"/><ref name="Vanneman-1988"/>

Definitions of the working class are confusing. Defined in terms of income, they may be split into middle-middle or statistical middle class in order to speak to issues of class structure. Class models such as Dennis Gilbert or Thompson and Hickey estimate that roughly 53% of Americans are members of the working or lower classes.<ref name="Society in Focus"/><ref name="Gilbert-1997"/>

Factors such as nature of work and lack of influence within their jobs leads some theorists to the conclusion that most Americans are working class. They have data that shows the majority of workers are not paid to share their ideas, are closely supervised, and do not enjoy independence in their jobs.

===Weberian definition===
Some modern theories of [[political economy]] consider a large middle class to be a beneficial and stabilizing influence on society because it has neither the possibly explosive revolutionary tendencies of the [[Working class|lower class]], nor the [[Autocracy|absolutist]] tendencies of an entrenched upper class. Most [[Sociology|sociological]] definitions of middle class follow [[Max Weber]]. Here, the middle class is defined as consisting of professionals or business owners who share a culture of domesticity and sub-urbanity and a level of relative security against social crisis in the form of socially desired skill or wealth. Thus, the theory on the middle class by Weber can be cited as one that supports the notion of the middle class being composed of a quasi-elite of professionals and managers, who are largely immune to economic downturns and trends such as out-sourcing which affect the statistical middle class.<ref name="Griff Witte-2004"/>

==Income==
{{See also|Income in the US|Household income in the United States|Personal income in the United States}}
Sociologists contend that middle class persons usually have above [[median household income|median]] incomes. As social classes lack clear boundaries and overlap there are no definite income thresholds as for what is considered middle class. In 2004, sociologist Leonard Beeghley identifies a male making $57,000 and a female making $40,000 with a combined households income of $97,000 as a typical American middle-class family.<ref>{{cite book|last=Beeghley|first=Leonard|year=2004|title=The Structure of Social Stratification in the United States|publisher=Pearson|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-205-37558-8}}</ref> In 2005, sociologists William Thompson and Joseph Hickey estimate an income range of roughly $35,000 to $75,000 for the lower middle class and $100,000 or more for the upper middle class.

===Size of middle class by income level===
According to a 2021 Pew Research study that classifies adults as middle class if they belong to a household with income between 2/3 and 2x median household income ($52k-$156k for a household of three), the percentage of Americans in the middle class declined from 61% to 50% over the previous five decades (1971-2021) with 4% moving down into the lower class and 7% moving up into the upper class.{{ r | Pew_2024-04-20 }} 

In 1996, one possible explanation for the increase in the higher earnings categories is that more households now have two wage earners.<ref>{{cite news|first=Aaron|last=Bernstein|title=Is America Becoming More of a Class Society?|work=BusinessWeek|date=February 26, 1996 }}</ref>

===Education and income===
[[Educational attainment in the United States|Educational attainment]] is one of the most prominent determinants of class status. Expertise  is a necessary component of the [[capitalist]] market system, and is seen as  one of the factors of production.<ref name="Eichar-1989"/>  Those with higher educational attainment tend to be positioned in occupations with greater [[autonomy]], influence over the organizational process, and higher [[Household income in the United States|financial compensation]].<ref name="Eichar-1989"/><ref name="Ehrenreich-1989"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h13.html |title=Household income according to the educational attainment of householder |access-date=September 16, 2006 |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090710001930/http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h13.html |archive-date=July 10, 2009 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> The following chart further explains the  correlation between educational attainment and personal as well as household income.<ref name="US Census Bureau"/>

{|class=wikitable
!colspan=2|Criteria
!TOTAL
!Less than 9th grade
!9th to 12th grade (no diploma)
!High School Graduate (includes equivalency)
!Some College, No Degree
!Associate Degree
!Bachelor's Degree or More
!Bachelor's Degree
!Master's Degree
!Professional Degree
!Doctorate Degree
|-
|rowspan=2|Median individual income||Male, age 25+||$46,680||$22,678||$23,649||$36,476||$42,379||$50,034||$74,161||$65,981||$85,600||$120,030||$100,658
|-
|Female, age 25+||$30,137||$12,735||$14,176||$21,133||$26,498||$30,957||$50,385||$43,951||$56,545||$77,868||$77,412
|}
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2018<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html|title=Historical Income Tables: People}}</ref>

===Household income controversy===
[[Image:Distribution of two plus income households.svg|thumb|300px|Percentage distribution of 2+ income households among the quintiles]]
[[Household income in the United States|Household income]] is one of a household's attributes most commonly used to determine its class status but income may not always accurately reflect a household's position within society or the economy.<ref name="Social Class and Stratification"/> Unlike personal income, household income does not reflect occupational achievement as much as it measures the number of income earners. Sociologist Dennis Gilbert acknowledges that a [[American working class|working-class]] household with two income earners may out-earn a single-income upper-middle-class household. Furthermore, household income fails to recognize household size. For example, a single attorney, earning $95,000, may have a higher standard of living than a family of four with an income of $120,000. Yet household income is still a commonly used class indicator.<ref name="Gilbert-1997"/>

{{blockquote|The parade [of income earners with height representing income] suggest that [the] relationship between the distribution of income and the class structure is... blurred in the middle...we saw dual-income working class marchers looking down on single-income upper-middle-class marchers. In sum, the class structures as we have defined it...does not exactly match the distribution of household income.|Dennis Gilbert|''The American Class Structure'', 1998}}

==Neighborhoods==
A study by [[Brookings Institution]] in June 2006 revealed that Middle-income neighborhoods as a proportion of all metropolitan neighborhoods declined from 58 percent in 1970 to 41 percent in 2000. As housing costs increase, the middle class is squeezed and forced to live in less desirable areas making upward mobility more difficult. Safety, school systems, and even jobs are all linked to neighborhood types.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2006/06poverty_booza.aspx |title=Where Did They Go? the Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Metropolitan America |access-date=November 24, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121171136/http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2006/06poverty_booza.aspx |archive-date=November 21, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Influence==
The influence of the middle class depends on which theory one utilizes. If the middle class is defined as a modern [[bourgeoisie]], the "middle class" has great influence. If middle class is used in a manner that includes all persons who are at neither extreme of the [[Social structure|social strata]], it might still be influential, as such definition may include the "professional middle class", which is then commonly referred to as the "upper middle class". Despite the fact that the professional (upper) middle class is a privileged minority, it is the perhaps the most influential class in the United States.<ref name="Ehrenreich-1989"/>

{{blockquote|Most ideas that find their way into the cultural mainstream... are crafted by a relative elite: people who are well educated, reasonably well-paid, and who overlap, socially and through family ties, with at least the middling levels of the business community—in short, the professional middle class.|[[Barbara Ehrenreich]]}}

Several reasons can be cited as to why the [[professional class|professional middle class]] is so influential. One is that journalists, commentators, writers, professors, economists, and [[Political Scientist|political scientists]], who are essential in shaping public opinion, are almost exclusively members of the professional middle class. Considering the overwhelming presence of professional middle-class persons in [[post secondary education]], another essential instrument in regards to shaping [[public opinion]], it should come as no surprise that the lifestyle exclusive to this quasi-elite has become indicative of the American mainstream itself. In addition to setting trends, the professional middle class also holds occupations which include managerial duties, meaning that middle-class professionals spend much of their work-life directing others and conceptualizing the workday for the average worker.<ref name="Ehrenreich-1989"/>

Yet another reason is the economic clout generated by this class. In 2005 according to [[U.S.&nbsp;Census]] statistics, the [[Income quintiles|top third]] of society, excluding the [[Income quintiles|top 5%]], controlled the largest share of [[Household income in the United States#Aggregate income distribution|income]] in the United States.<ref name="U"/> Although some in the statistical middle class (for example, police officers and fire fighters in the more affluent suburbs in the San Francisco Bay Area) may have lifestyles as comfortable as those found among the ranks of the professional middle class, only few have the same degree of autonomy and influence over society as those in the professional middle class.<ref name="Ehrenreich-1989"/> Other white-collar members of the statistical middle class may not only be unable to afford the middle-class lifestyle<ref name="Beth Potier-2003"/> but also lack the influence found in the professional middle class.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fussel|first=Paul|year=1983|title=Class, A Guide through the American status system|publisher=Touchstone|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-671-79225-3|url=https://archive.org/details/class00paul}}</ref>

==Typical occupations==
Due to the many different ways of sub-dividing the middle class, some occupations indicative of the professional middle class might be categorized as [[upper middle class|upper-middle]] or lower-middle. Typical occupations for members of the middle class are those identified as being part of "the professions" and often include managerial duties as well, with all being [[White-collar worker|white collar]]: [[accountants]], tenured professors, [[psychologist]]s, physicians, engineers, lawyers, commissioned [[Military Officer|military officer]]s, architects, journalists, mid-level corporate managers, [[Author|writers]], economists, [[Political Scientist|political scientist]]s, [[urban planner]]s, [[financial manager]]s, [[Registered Nurses|registered nurses]] (RNs), pharmacists, and [[Analysis|analysts]].<ref name="Ehrenreich-1989"/><ref name="DOL Professional Occupations">{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco1002.htm|title=Professional Occupations according to the US Department of Labor|access-date=July 26, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721030440/http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco1002.htm|archive-date=July 21, 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Autonomy]] is often seen as one of the greatest measurements of a person's class status. Even though some working class employees might also enjoy largely self-directed work, large degrees of autonomy in the work place, as well as influence over the organizational process, which are commonly the results of obtained expertise, these can still be seen as hallmarks of upper-middle-class or professional-middle-class professions.<ref name="Eichar-1989"/>

As for the lower middle class, other less prestigious occupations, many sales positions, entry-level management, secretaries, etc., would be included.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/class/|title=The New York Times, guidelines for determining class in America|access-date=July 28, 2006|work=The New York Times}}</ref> In addition to professionals whose work is largely self-directed and includes managerial duties, many other less privileged members of the statistical middle class would find themselves in semi-independent to independent [[White-collar worker|white collar]] positions. Many of those in the statistical middle class might work in what are called the professional support fields. These fields include occupations such as dental hygienists, and other professional and sales support.

==Academic models==
Note that these models are from the 2000s, and are not adjusted for inflation.
{{Social class in the US}}

==See also==
* [[African-American middle class]]
* [[American Dream]]
* [[Income inequality in the United States]]
* [[Middle-class squeeze]]
* ''[[Plain Folk of the Old South]]''
* [[Upper middle class in the United States]]
*''[[Class: A Guide Through the American Status System]]''
* [[Mexican-American middle class]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* Baritz, Loren. ''The Good Life: The Meaning of Success for the American Middle Class'' (1989)
* Beckert, Sven, and Julia B. Rosenbaum, eds. ''The American Bourgeoisie: Distinction and Identity in the Nineteenth Century'' (Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) 284 pages; Scholarly studies on the habits, manners, networks, institutions, and public roles of the American middle class with a focus on cities in the North.
* Blau, Peter & Duncan Otis D.; ''The American Occupational Structure'' (1967) classic study of structure and mobility
* Curwood, Anastasia C. ed. ''Stormy Weather: Middle-Class African American Marriages Between the Two World Wars'' (University of North Carolina Press; 2011) 240 pages; explores the public and private views of upwardly mobile African-Americans between 1918 and 1942.
* [[Paul Fussell|Fussell, Paul]]; ''Class (a painfully accurate guide through the American status system)'', (1983) ({{ISBN|0-345-31816-1}})
* Grusky, David B. ed.; ''Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective'' (2001) scholarly articles
* Hart, Emma, "Work, Family, and the Eighteenth-Century History of a Middle Class in the American South," ''Journal of Southern History,'' 78 (2012), 551–78.
* Hazelrigg, Lawrence E. & Lopreato, Joseph; ''[http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/11/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/ Class], Conflict, and Mobility: Theories and Studies of Class Structure'' (1972).
* Hoberek, Andrew. ''The Twilight of the Middle Class: Post-World War II American Fiction and White-Collar Work'' (2005)
* Huffington, Arianna. ''Third World America: How our politicians are abandoning the middle class and betraying the American dream'' (Broadway Books, 2011).
* Hyman, Louis. ''Borrow: The American way of debt'' (Vintage, 2012); argues that personal credit created the American Middle Class and almost bankrupted the nation.
* Hymowitz, Kay; ''Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age'' (2006) {{ISBN|1-56663-709-0}}
* Jackson, Brenda K. ''Domesticating the West: The Re-creation of the Nineteenth-century American Middle Class'' (U of Nebraska Press, 2005).
* Lamont, Michèle. ''Money, morals, and manners: The culture of the French and the American upper-middle class'' (U of Chicago Press, 1992).
* McComb, Mary C. ''Great Depression and the Middle Class: Experts, Collegiate Youth and Business Ideology, 1929-1941'' (Routledge, 2013).
* Mills, C. Wright. ''White Collar: the American Middle Classes'', (Oxford University Press, 1956). 
* Newman, Katherine S. ''Falling from grace: The experience of downward mobility in the American middle class'' (Free Press, 1988).
* Pearson, Joseph W. ''The Whigs' America: Middle-Class Political Thought in the Age of Jackson and Clay'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2020).
*{{cite book |last= Quart|first=Alissa|author-link=Alissa Quart|date=2018 |title=Squeezed: Why Our Families Can't Afford America|publisher= [[Ecco Press]]|isbn=978-0062412256}}
* Reeves, Richard V. ''Dream hoarders: How the American upper middle class is leaving everyone else in the dust, why that is a problem, and what to do about it''  (Brookings Institution Press, 2018) [https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Spring-2019-Economics-Catalog.pdf online].
* {{cite book |last= Temin|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Temin|date=2017 |title=The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy|url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/vanishing-middle-class|publisher= [[MIT Press]]|isbn=9780262036160}}
*Ware, Leland, and Theodore J. Davis, "Ordinary People in an Extraordinary Time: The Black Middle-Class in the Age of Obama," ''Howard Law Journal'', 55 (Winter 2012), 533–74.
* Webb, Sheila. "The Consumer-Citizen: 'Life' Magazine's Construction of a Middle-Class Lifestyle Through Consumption Scenarios." ''Studies in Popular Culture'' 34.2 (2012): 23-47. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23416397 online]
* Whitaker, Jan. ''Service and style: How the American department store fashioned the middle class'' (Macmillan, 2006).
* Whyte, William H. ''[[The Organization Man]]'' (1956), a famous classic
* Zussman, Robert. ''Mechanics of the middle class'' (U of California Press, 2020).

===News articles===
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/upshot/the-american-middle-class-is-no-longer-the-worlds-richest.html?_r=0 The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World's Richest]. ''[[The New York Times]].'' April 22, 2014.
* [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/26/business/economy/middle-class-shrinks-further-as-more-fall-out-instead-of-climbing-up.html Middle Class Shrinks Further as More Fall Out Instead of Climbing Up]. ''The New York Times.'' January 25, 2015.
* [https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/middle-class-betrayal-why-working-hard-no-longer-enough-america-n291741 Middle-Class Betrayal? Why Working Hard Is No Longer Enough in America]. ''[[NBC News]].'' 
* [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-e-stiglitz/us-middle-class-society_b_8759752.html Why the U.S. Could Soon Be the World's First Former Middle Class Society]. [[Joseph Stiglitz]] for ''The Huffington Post.'' December 9, 2015.
* [http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/12/is-shrinking-the-middle-class-a-good-thing.html Is shrinking the middle class a good thing?] ''Al Jazeera America.'' 
* [http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/05/11/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/ Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator] May 11, 2016 
* [http://areyoumiddleclass.com/ Are You Middle Class?]
* [https://www.vice.com/en/article/politics-have-been-getting-more-extreme-as-the-middle-class-shrinks/ No more middle ground: Politics have been getting more extreme as the middle class shrinks]. ''[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]].'' August 25, 2017
* [https://www.wsj.com/articles/families-go-deep-in-debt-to-stay-in-the-middle-class-11564673734 Families Go Deep in Debt to Stay in the Middle Class]. ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. August 1, 2019

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
* [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=11943 What's (Not) the Matter With the Middle Class?], [[The American Prospect]]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070929083957/http://fora.tv/fora/showthread.php?t=441 Lou Dobbs discusses "The War on the Middle Class"]}} on October 17, 2006
* [http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,439766,00.html A SUPERPOWER IN DECLINE: America's Middle Class Has Become Globalization's Loser] by [[Gabor Steingart]] (spiegel online) October 24, 2006
* [http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/09/the-american-middle-class-is-losing-ground/ American Middle Class is losing ground (Pew Research Center) December 9, 2015]

{{Social class}}
{{Demographics of the United States}}
{{United States topics}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:American Middle Class}}
[[Category:American middle class| ]]
[[Category:Social class in the United States]]