Over 40+ years, U.S. middle-income changes from 61% to 52% of overall adult population. Why so much more anger?

[Multicolored Lemur]

The American middle class is stable in size, but losing ground financially to upper-income families

While the size of the U.S. middle class remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2016, financial gains for middle-income Americans were modest compared with those of higher-income households.

www.pewresearch.org

First off, how are they defining “middle income”?

What they do is to take median household income (meaning that half of households are above it and half are below it). And then they say, if you’re from 2/3s median to double, you’re “middle income.” And yes, if we keep measuring the same way over time, we can see some trends.

And notice that more people have moved upward than downward.

What they’re classifying as “upper income” has increased from 14 to 19% of the population from 1971 to 2016, during which time “lower income” increased from 25 to 29%. So, on balance a good thing? I don’t think so. It’s a slow pulling apart of the middle class. And then, the question:

Why is the political anger so much greater than this measured reality?

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

The American middle class is stable in size, but losing ground financially to upper-income families

While the size of the U.S. middle class remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2016, financial gains for middle-income Americans were modest compared with those of higher-income households.

www.pewresearch.org

This gives us some examples of what’s classified as middle-income or upper-income depending on family size.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

The American middle class is stable in size, but losing ground financially to upper-income families

While the size of the U.S. middle class remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2016, financial gains for middle-income Americans were modest compared with those of higher-income households.

www.pewresearch.org

“The Census Bureau’s 2016 American Community Survey was conducted from January 2016 to December 2016. Respondents were asked to report their income received in the 12 months before the survey date.”

So, presumably someone calling you on the phone, identifying themselves, politely asking a series of questions, one of which is about your income or income range.

You’re not going to get 100% participation for starters.

And, if the survey is top-heavy toward land lines, maybe it’s therefore also top-heavy toward older, stabler, and richer families? And maybe out of pride when talking with a stranger, people tend to fudge their income upward. And/or view a higher recent year (for example, when they had full-time employment the entire year) as their “normal”?

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Why is the political anger so much greater than this measured reality?

As you indicated in your very last post, the results could be skewed. Anecdotally-speaking, there seems to be an increase in homelessness, and I presume some of them used to be in the middle class (certainly some were in the lower class income range). Another area I see it is in the housing/condo market. It's becoming harder and harder to find a decent price place to stay. Prices are skyrocketing except in the lower income neighborhoods. So you either live in a really high income place or you stay in a low income place, the places in between are declining.

 

[Multicolored Lemur]

So you either live in a really high income place or you stay in a low income place, the places in between are declining.

Yes, both less jobs and less houses in the middle range.

Growing up in suburban Houston as a boy in the 1970s, we had a house I gathered was maybe slightly lower middle-income. It was a perfectly serviceable house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, even a large den. It seemed large to me. I later learned it was about 1,500 sq. ft.

It emphatically WAS NOT one of these McMansions.

 

[AgnosticBoy]

Yes, both less jobs and less houses in the middle range.

Growing up in suburban Houston as a boy in the 1970s, we had a house I gathered was maybe slightly lower middle-income. It was a perfectly serviceable house with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a dining room, even a large den. It seemed large to me. I later learned it was about 1,500 sq. ft.

It emphatically WAS NOT one of these McMansions.

I think one fair conclusion is that it's becoming harder to live in the US with middle-class level income. I wouldn't expect for middle income level to drop anyways unless we saw blue collar jobs going away in large numbers or some other major factor that would cause people to lose their income. So while the income stays the same, the cost of living is definitely increasing, and I think that's at least one way that we're damaging the middle class. It's not in terms of income but in terms of how much they can live off of their income.