Defining the Middle Class

Economists use household income as a measure of wealth in America. In other words, they look at the combined earnings of everyone living in a household to determine who is rich, who is poor, and who is middle class.

Watch this video from "How the Deck Is Stacked," a series co-produced by FRONTLINE, Marketplace, and PBS NewsHour. As you watch, pay attention to the criteria economists use to define different income groups, or tiers.

Keyboard Shortcut	Action
Space	Pause/Play video playback
Enter	Pause/Play video playback
m	Mute/Unmute video volume
Up and Down arrows	Increase and decrease volume by 10%
Right and Left arrows	Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds
0-9	Fast seek to x% of the video.
f	Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key.
c	Press c to toggle captions on or off

Video Transcript

If you stopped 10 people on the street, probably 7 of them would say they’re middle class.

But the new reality in America is that even though a lot of us think we’re middle class, most of us aren’t.

I’m Kai Ryssdal, and this is "How the Deck Is Stacked."

One way that economists like to think about the middle class is in terms of household size and household income. Let’s see if you can spot where you fall.

If you’re single, you’d have to make between $24,000 and $73,000 a year to be considered middle class.

For a couple, it’s $34,000 a year to about $103,000.

And for a family of four, it’s $48,000 to about $145,000 a year.

One reason a lot of us think we’re middle class is because most of us used to be. In 1971, 70 percent of Americans were defined as middle class. Today, just half of us are. That’s a big drop. Some of those people moved up, some people moved down.

Take Notes

Before moving on, answer the following questions. You may watch the video again or read the transcript of the video.

How did your definition of the middle class from the previous page match up with what you learned in the video?
Were you surprised by any of the data presented in the video? Explain.