Most Americans Are No Longer Middle Class

By Eric Westervelt

Most Americans Are No Longer Middle Class

By Eric Westervelt
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Americans have long lived in a nation made up primarily of middle-class families, neither rich nor poor, but comfortable enough. This year, that changed, according to the Pew Research Center. In this 1948 photo, an American family watches a tabletop radio television. (AP)

Most Americans are no longer in the middle class, according to the Pew Research Center. The country has about 120.8 million adults living in middle-income households, a new Pew study found.

That compares with the 121.3 million who are living in either upper- or lower-income households.

NPR senior business editor Marilyn Geewax says “middle class” for a family of three means earning between $42,000 and $126,000 a year. She discusses some of the reasons for the shrinking middle class with Here & Now’s Eric Westervelt.