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<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-is-really-middle-class-in-america-this-chart-shows-just-how-much-family-size-matters-2018-12-28" class="">https://www.marketwatch.com/story/who-is-really-middle-class-in-america-this-chart-shows-just-how-much-family-size-matters-2018-12-28</a><br class="">
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Who is really middle class in America? This chart shows just how much family size matters</h1>
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<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">Most Americans believe they are in the middle class... but are they?</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">Studies have shown that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/26/how-many-americans-qualify-as-middle-class.html" target="_new" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;" class="">
as much as 68% of the country defines themselves as middle class</a>, but data show that, based on a strict income definition, only about 50% of the country is middle class.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">Part of the reason for this is income alone leaves many important factors out of the picture that can affect someone’s finances dramatically -- local cost of living, for one, but equally important: family size.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">A <a href="https://howmuch.net/articles/income-classes-in-america" target="_new" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;" class="">
new chart from the personal-finance website HowMuch.net</a> lays out income class, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Pew Research Center, but takes into account family size in determining someone’s placement
along the upper, middle lower scale.</p>
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<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">As a general rule, according to Pew Research,
<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/06/the-american-middle-class-is-stable-in-size-but-losing-ground-financially-to-upper-income-families/" target="_new" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;" class="">
Americans are considered middle-income</a> if they make two-thirds to double the U.S. median household income, or about $45,200 to $135,600 in 2016. That’s for families with three people, the number closest to the average U.S. household size, 2.5 people.
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<p style="font-weight: bold; max-width: 100%;" class="">See Also</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">Violence Made Her Flee. Now She’s at the Border</p>
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<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">Lower-income households are those making less than $45,200. And upper-income households have incomes greater than $135,600.
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<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">If you’re a single, working adult, with no children, those numbers change drastically.
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<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">Check out the chart to see where you line up. And if you want to be a little more exact,
<a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/09/06/are-you-in-the-american-middle-class/" target="_new" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%;" class="">
Pew Research also has a calculator</a> that lets you select your state, metropolitan area, household income before taxes and number of people in your household.
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<p style="max-width: 100%;" class="">One takeaway, as always: Don’t put pressure on yourself to “keep up with the Joneses,” especially if you have more children to take care of, the author wrote on HowMuch.</p>
<p style="max-width: 100%;" class=""><em style="max-width: 100%;" class="">Get a daily roundup of the top reads in personal finance delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Personal Finance Daily newsletter.
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