Middle Class

03.26.09

Before the Great Recession, a Phantom Recovery

The eight-year period from 1999 through 2007 is the longest in modern U.S. economic history in which inflation-adjusted median household income failed to surpass an earlier peak.

03.26.09

Testimony of Paul Taylor, Executive Vice President, Pew Research Center to the Senate Finance Committee

Comments on a report that combines findings of one of our major national public opinion surveys with the Center’s analysis of four decades of demographic and economic trends from the Census Bureau and other sources.

07.29.08

America’s Four Middle Classes

There isn’t one American middle class; there are four. Each is different from the others in its attitudes, outlook and financial circumstance—sometimes in ways that defy traditional stereotypes of the middle class.

05.29.08

The Middle Class Blues

When it comes to anxiety about family finances, an old truism applies: Where you stand depends on where you sit. Or, more precisely, on where your house or apartment sits.

04.09.08

Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life

Americans feel stuck in their tracks. A majority of survey respondents say that in the past five years, they either haven’t moved forward in life or have fallen backward.