American middle-class rates
Image by Thomas Breher from Pixabay

Around 52 percent of American adults are considered "middle class," says Pew Research Center's analysis.

With this, Pew Research Center released a new income calculator on Thursday that will help you figure out if you are part of the middle class.

The calculator allows users to compare themselves to their metropolitan area and among Americans nationwide overall.

The factors to be considered are the average size of a U.S. household, educational attainment, age, race, or ethnicity, and marital status.

Pew also reported based on 2018 data that 52 percent of Americans are in middle-income households; around 29 percent are in lower-income households; and 19 percent are in upper-income households.

How Much Money Does An American Middle Class Earn?

Middle-class Americans earn around $40,425 to $120,672 based on Pew's 2016 definition.

However, this varies in every state and city level.

For instance, Silicon Valley residents earning around $400,000 consider themselves to be in the middle class, according to a survey.

In Palo Alto, California, local newspaper Palo Alto Weekly asked residents to report their household income.

Out of 250 participants, 81 reported that they have incomes between $10,000 to $399,999 and considered themselves to be "middle class."

This just shows that being in the "middle class" varies on where you reside.

In Tampa, Florida, with around 3 million of metro area population, the middle-class range earn around $34,808 to $104,424.

Miami, Florida has a different middle-class range of $36,189 to $108,568 with a metro-area population of 6.1 million.

In San Antonio, Texas, the middle-class range of $37,849 to $113,548 with 2.4 million of metro-area population.

The middle-class range is also different in Phoenix, Arizona with $41,004 to $123,012 of income with 4.7 million of metro-area population.

Riverside, California reported a middle-class range of $41,329 to $123,988 with a metro area population of 4.5 million.

This is even higher in Los Angeles, California with a middle-class range of $46,661 to $139,984 with a metro-area population of 13.3 million.

Chicago, Illinois reported a middle-class range of $45,602 to $136,806 with a metro-area population of 9.5 million.

The Middle-Class Status Amidst the Pandemic

Since mid-March, over 33 million of Americans have filed for unemployment when the pandemic forced businesses in the country to close.

The unemployment rate reached 14.7-percent in April, with the loss of around 20.5 million jobs. This was the highest rate since the Great Depression.

Low-income households are not the only one affected by this. Middle-class Americans are just barely hanging.

Credit card bills, rent, student loans to pay off, and a possible recession could displace many out of the middle class.

Aside from this, the middle-class people of color had a greater disadvantage during this period.

Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, said that the middle class is also on rocky ground right now because postal workers and bus drivers are widely affected.

"Public sector jobs [have] traditionally been a real road to the middle class for many families, particularly black families," she was quoted in a report.

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