I Asked ChatGPT and Perplexity AI If the US Middle Class Will Disappear — Here’s What They Said
Written by
Jordan Rosenfeld
Edited by
Molly Sullivan
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As the American dream of living a financially stable life slowly erodes in the face of increasing costs of living and other economic pressures, the middle class also feels like it’s disappearing.
Households in the lower end of the middle class are living paycheck to paycheck in some states while the average middle class tries to hang on to their status in the face of increasing top 1% growth.
To determine if the middle class could actually disappear, I asked AI models ChatGPT and Perplexity if they think the middle class will disappear, and if so, when.
The Middle Class Is Splitting and Hollowing
ChatGPT said that the middle class isn’t likely to disappear altogether, though the version of it many people grew up expecting “is eroding.” It considers what is happening to the middle class as more of a split or fracture than a disappearance.
Drawing on data from sources like the Pew Research Center, it suggested that what we have now is a smaller, more secure upper middle class and a larger, more stressed “working middle” that earns decent income but lacks buffers. There’s also a growing group that falls out of the middle class repeatedly, even if they technically qualify by income.
The AI Perplexity also wouldn’t commit to the idea of a disappearing middle class but agreed it is “changing shape.” Perplexity suggested that a more appropriate term is a “hollowing out” of the middle class, “where fewer households sit in the middle and more are in both lower and higher income tiers.”
What the Middle Class Used To Afford
ChatGPT explained that in the past, what equaled a comfortable middle-class life included being able to comfortably enjoy the following with money left over to save:
- Predictable pay
- Employer health insurance
- Affordable housing relative to income
- Pensions or reliable retirement paths
- One crisis at a time, not five at once
Perplexity added that the middle class used to also be able to afford:
- A college education that was not “ruinous”
- One decent car (sometimes two)
- Child care
- Modest vacations and other leisure
Why the Middle Class Is Squeezed
Perplexity gave a more detailed explanation for why middle-class households feel squeezed today, citing that the share of adults in middle-income households has fallen over recent decades and that the middle class controls “a smaller share of national income” than it did back in 1970.
ChatGPT suggested that “structural shifts” like globalization, automation and the loss of jobs in manufacturing and administration have also had a negative impact on the middle class. It broke down the reasons as follows:
- Housing eats 30% to 50% of take-home pay.
- Healthcare costs are unpredictable.
- Retirement is self-funded and market-dependent.
- Job security is thinner.
- Economic “shocks” stack up (inflation + caregiving + debt + housing).
Thus, ChatGPT suggested that people feel poorer even when they’re not statistically poor.
When Does This Really Show Up?
ChatGPT suggested that while the middle class may not completely disappear, its fracturing will likely continue. It broke this down into two windows:
Already Happening (Now-2030)
Currently, ChatGPT said, middle-income households are relying more on credit and family support, with more of them just “one emergency away” from needing to borrow money. More traditional markers of success like homeownership and retirement readiness are getting pushed out later or vanishing altogether.
Acceleration Window (2030-2040)
In the next couple decades, the middle class may be populated more by people “with inheritance and family wealth” over those with higher salaries. The ends of the middle-class spectrum will start to widen, too, with two people with the same income living “wildly different lives” based on their financial picture and location. It could make the middle class feel less like a broad group, the AI said, and more like “a conditional status.”
Perplexity doesn’t wax quite as philosophical. It sees the middle class as remaining but weaker. Barring large policy shifts (on wages, housing, taxes, education, healthcare), the middle class is likely to persist as a category but “with less security, less political clout and a smaller share of total income than its earlier iterations,” the AI said.
This may lead to “more polarization and volatility,” Perplexity said. With more people hovering just above or just below traditional “middle class” lines. That means they will own less, carry more debt and find themselves more exposed to economic shocks.
Geography will also matter, Perplexity added. Some regions and cities will retain relatively robust middle classes, when there are stable mid-skill jobs and better local policy, while others will see “sharper hollowing.”
The Biggest Myth To Drop
The middle class won’t disappear because capitalism needs consumers, ChatGPT asserted. However, it said that some things can still change, such as the idea that hard work always produces security or that income alone defines class.
Perplexity suggested that there will be higher barriers of entry to the middle class, particularly if it remains tied to things like homeownership.
To be middle class in the future may require more active planning, maintenance and even luck.
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