This Income Calculator Shows If You’re Actually in the Middle Class

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• The American middle class stabilized in size and was better off in 2016 than it was in 2010, according to a Pew Research Center report.
• But the median income for the middle class as of 2016 has remained stagnant since 2000.
• The income gap between the middle and upper class is widening. Pew released a calculator you can use to compare your income to see whether you’re in the middle class.
  

The Pew Research Center has released a calculator that shows you if you fall in the lower, middle or upper class by comparing your information — such as state, metro area, pre-tax household income, size of household, education level, age, race and marital status — to government data as recent as 2016. You can compare yourself to your demographic or input a different state to dream of a life where money stretches further.

The Pew Research Center reports that the American middle class stabilized in size and was better off in 2016 than it was in 2010 — welcome news after decades worth of reports of the disappearance of the middle class. Despite that major gain, the median income for the middle class as of 2016 has remained stagnant since 2000. What’s less encouraging is that the income gap between the middle and upper class is widening.

Financially, Americans fall in three economic buckets: 52 percent of adults lived in middle-income households, 29 percent in lower-income households and 19 percent in upper-income households.

How Your Income Compares to the Middle Class in Every State

See where you stack up against other Americans in your metro area and state. The state-by-state table below is based on using Pew’s income calculator with the following metrics:

• The largest metro area, which is often, but not always, the capital of every state
• The national median household income as of 2016 according to the Census: $57,617
• The average number of people in a household as of 2010 according to the Census: 3

Thinking of Moving? How Much You Need to Live Comfortably in 50 Major US Cities

Drilling into the data, wealth and cost-of-living disparities emerge. Connecticut’s largest metro area has the smallest percentage of middle income residents: 46 percent of Connecticut residents are in the tier associated with the national median income. On the other hand, 60 percent of people living in Honolulu is in the middle-class tier associated with the national median income.

Click to read about 31 cities where you can afford to live off less than $50,000.

More on Making Money, Net Worth and the Economy 

• Free Online Calculators
• Richest and Poorest Area Codes in the U.S.
• These Are the Wealthiest School Districts Across America, Study Finds
• 10 Effects of Inflation — and How to Protect Your Money Now
• Watch: Best and Worst States for the Middle Class

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