American middle class
Neither rich nor poor
The American middle class is the broad socioeconomic stratum between the wealthy and the poor in the United States—typically characterized by moderate income, homeownership, college education, and white-collar or skilled employment.
The term carries cultural weight beyond economics, evoking aspirations of stability, upward mobility, and comfortable suburban life.
Politicians invoke it constantly: policies that help the American middle class, the shrinking middle class.
What actually constitutes middle class is notoriously elastic—most Americans identify as middle class regardless of income.
- car ownershipLegally having a vehicle
- consumer spendingHousehold purchasing of goods
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- cultureCollective social practices
- disposable incomeEarnings minus essential costs
income · home equity · debt-to-income ratio · socioeconomic · squeezed · education · employment · suburban living · white picket fence · two-car garage · public schooling · college fund · Costco · keeping up with the Joneses · educational attainment · Little League · PTA meetings · social mobility
American middle classupper class
Wealthiest societal stratum
the poor · the rich · the one percent · ruling class · lower class
American middle classEuropean aristocracy
Hereditary ruling class abroad
class, middle, America, American, upper class, middles, Americans, middle class, working class