How the American middle class has changed in the past five decades

Pew Research Center/Rakesh Kochhar and Stella Sechopoulos/4-20-2022

“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.”

Charts reproduced with the permission of Pew Research Center