Depending on where you live, the salary needed to be middle class can vary greatly.
(NEXSTAR) — It can be hard to tell if you rank as middle class, especially when it feels like your paycheck doesn’t go as far as it once did. A new report from personal finance site SmartAsset used U.S. Census Bureau and Pew Research Center data to determine what takes to be considered middle class in all 50 states and 345 of the nation’s largest cities.
The analysis used the Pew Research definition of “middle income,” which says a middle class salary range is two-thirds to double the area’s median salary. As of 2022 (the most recent Census data), the average median household income in the U.S. was $73,914, meaning the national range for the middle class is roughly $49,271 to $147,828. Across the nation’s largest cities, the range is between $51,558 and $154,590, according to SmartAsset.
Depending on where you live, that range can vary greatly. The range was most drastic in New Jersey, where SmartAsset determined the difference between the lower class and upper class was a whopping $128,468. A household needs at least $64,224 to be considered middle class in the Garden State, and earning more than $192,692 would put you in the upper class.
In addition to New Jersey, you need an annual household salary of at least $50,000 to be considered middle class in 17 states: Oregon, Illinois, New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, Virginia, Alaska, Connecticut, Utah, Colorado, New Hampshire, Washington, California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Maryland.
A person considered middle class in New Jersey or New York could easily rank among the wealthiest in Mississippi, which had the lowest middle class range on SmartAsset’s list. In the Magnolia State, earning between $35,142 and $105,438 would put you in the middle class.
The interactive table below shows each state’s middle class range based on SmartAsset’s report. For best viewing on mobile, turn your device horizontally. Still unable to view the table? Click here.
While New Jersey had the highest state-level middle-class range, none of its cities ranked among the 10 most expensive cities. Instead, California cities dominated the upper end of the list. Sunnyvale, the Bay Area city northwest of San Jose, has the richest middle-class range, with a minimum salary threshold of $113,176 to be “middle income.” "Upper class" status in Sunnyvale requires a salary of at least $339,562.
In six cities—California’s Sunnyvale, Fremont, San Mateo, and Santa Clara; Bellevue, Washington; and Highlands Ranch, Colorado—a middle-earner's household is over $101,000. Such a six-figure salary would put you among the upper class in the 10 cities on the opposite end of SmartAsset’s list. In Detroit, the most affordable city the report found, an annual salary of just $24,300 would make you middle class. Close behind was Cleveland, whose low-end middle-class benchmark is $24,898.
Across the 10 cities with the lowest middle class range, a household salary of at least $30,000 would be enough to qualify as a middle income earner. The interactive table below shows the 345 cities SmartAsset analyzed, as well as the lower and upper bounds of their middle class. For best viewing on mobile, turn your device horizontally. Still unable to view the table? Click here.
Though it has tumbled from a peak of 9.1% in the summer of 2022, inflation remained elevated so far this year. Prices excluding volatile food and energy costs rose 3.8% in March from a year earlier, the same as in the previous month and well above the Federal Reserve’s target. On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the four-week average number of Americans filing for jobless benefits has remained unchanged, defying efforts by the Fed to cool hiring.
Last week, President Joe Biden admitted inflation is being “stubborn and not going down to 2%” in an exclusive interview. He further called our economy “the strongest…of any country in the world,” but adding, “we’ve got more to do.”
“We’ve created over 15 million new jobs. And the salaries are outpacing the cost of inflation. Lot of good happening,” he added. “But still, it’s those small things that matter in a big way to ordinary people. And that’s what we have to work on.”
View SmartAsset’s full report here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
