Thursday, October 18, 2018

Are you "upper class"?

 In a 2018 report, the non-partisan Pew Research Center found that "the wealth gaps between upper-income families and lower- and middle-income families in 2016 were at the highest levels recorded."
While upper-class families have "more than recovered from the losses experienced during the Great Recession," Pew notes, "the wealth of lower- and middle-income families in 2016 was comparable to 1989 levels. Thus, even as the American middle class appears not to be shrinking (for now), it continues to fall further behind upper-income households financially."
Here's the breakdown of how much money you or your household have to earn each year to be considered upper-class, depending on the size of your family:
Household of one: Minimum of $78,281Household of two: Minimum of $110,706Household of three: Minimum of $135,586Household of four: Minimum of $156,561Household of five: Minimum of $175,041
Pew defines the upper class as adults whose annual household income is more than double the national median, which was $57,617 in 2016. That's after incomes have been adjusted for household size, since smaller households require less money to support the same lifestyle as larger ones.

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