Am I Middle Class? 2026 Income Calculator
Find out where your household income falls under Pew Research Center's middle-class definition — adjusted for your household size, your state, and your city.
Quick answer: Pew Research Center defines middle class as households earning between two-thirds and double the median household income, size-adjusted. For a three-person US household in 2026 that's roughly $54,002 – $161,200 (national median: $80,600). Below $54,002 is lower-class or lower-middle; above $161,200 starts upper-middle; above $241,800 is upper class. Your state and city medians can shift these numbers by 50% or more.
Your household
Total gross household income. Combine all earners under one roof.
Number of people supported by this income. Pew adjusts thresholds by √(size/3).
Local medians are often a better benchmark than the national figure.
- Unadjusted median
- $80,600
- Size-adjusted median
- $80,600
- Middle-class floor (67%)
- $54,002
- Middle-class ceiling (200%)
- $161,200
Your class by income
How this is calculated
We use Pew Research Center's definition: households earning between two-thirds and double the reference median are middle class, after adjusting for household size by √(size/3). Reference medians come from the US Census Bureau's 2023 ACS 1-year estimates. We pick the most local reference available (city > state > national). Upper-middle is 2–3× the adjusted median; upper is >3×.
Middle-Class Income Ranges by State
Middle-class bounds for a three-person household in 20 representative states, using each state's 2023 ACS median household income. Scale up by √(5/3) ≈ 1.29 for a five-person household, or down by 1/√3 ≈ 0.58 for a single-person household.
| State | Median | Middle-class floor | Middle-class ceiling | Upper tier starts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | $54,200 | $36,314 | $108,400 | $162,600 |
| West Virginia | $57,700 | $38,659 | $115,400 | $173,100 |
| Louisiana | $58,200 | $38,994 | $116,400 | $174,600 |
| Alabama | $62,200 | $41,674 | $124,400 | $186,600 |
| Kentucky | $62,400 | $41,808 | $124,800 | $187,200 |
| Florida | $73,300 | $49,111 | $146,600 | $219,900 |
| Texas | $76,000 | $50,920 | $152,000 | $228,000 |
| Ohio | $69,700 | $46,699 | $139,400 | $209,100 |
| North Carolina | $70,800 | $47,436 | $141,600 | $212,400 |
| Georgia | $74,700 | $50,049 | $149,400 | $224,100 |
| Pennsylvania | $76,100 | $50,987 | $152,200 | $228,300 |
| Illinois | $81,700 | $54,739 | $163,400 | $245,100 |
| New York | $84,400 | $56,548 | $168,800 | $253,200 |
| Minnesota | $85,100 | $57,017 | $170,200 | $255,300 |
| Virginia | $89,400 | $59,898 | $178,800 | $268,200 |
| Washington | $94,600 | $63,382 | $189,200 | $283,800 |
| California | $96,300 | $64,521 | $192,600 | $288,900 |
| Massachusetts | $99,900 | $66,933 | $199,800 | $299,700 |
| New Jersey | $101,000 | $67,670 | $202,000 | $303,000 |
| Maryland | $101,700 | $68,139 | $203,400 | $305,100 |
Source: US Census Bureau ACS 2023 1-year estimates, Table B19013. Bounds calculated per Pew Research Center methodology (2/3 to 2x the size-adjusted median; upper class starts at 3x). Enter your state in the calculator above for all 50 states plus DC.
Why state and city matter more than the national number
The national middle-class band ($54,002–$161,200 for a three-person household) hides most of what actually determines whether your income feels middle class. A household earning $85,000 in Jackson, Mississippi is solidly upper-middle; the same income in San Francisco lands below the local middle-class floor.
Cost of living and local wages are tightly coupled — housing cost is the dominant variable, and employers in high-median metros roughly track it. Using your state or city median as the reference rather than the national figure produces a classification that matches how your paycheck actually feels in your grocery store and your rent check. That's why the calculator defaults to the most local reference available.
One caveat: a local-median comparison answers "am I middle class here" — not "am I middle class by national standards." Both questions are valid. If you're deciding whether to relocate, compare against the destination's median, not today's.
Methodology
Definition. We follow Pew Research Center's classification: lower class below 67% of the size-adjusted reference median, lower-middle 67–100%, middle 100–200%, upper-middle 200–300%, upper above 300%.
Equivalence adjustment. To compare households of different sizes on equal footing we scale the reference median by √(household size / 3). A three-person household is the baseline; a single-person household's thresholds are about 58% of the baseline, a five-person household's are about 129%.
Reference median. We pick the most local median available — city if you've selected one, state otherwise, national as the fallback. State and city medians come from US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2023 1-year estimates, Table B19013 (Median Household Income). National figure rounded from ACS 2023 ($80,600).
Limitations. Medians are pre-tax, nominal dollars. Pew's own analysis uses CPI-adjusted income to compare across years; we show nominal current-year figures because users think in today's dollars. Wealth (net worth) is a separate and often more informative lens than income alone — see our net worth percentile tools.
Frequently asked questions
What is the middle class in 2026?
Pew Research Center defines middle class as households earning between two-thirds and double the national median household income, after adjusting for household size. With the 2023 US median at $80,600, that's roughly $54,002 to $161,200 for a three-person household in 2026. State and city medians shift the band — Maryland's ceiling is higher than Mississippi's floor.
What income is considered middle class?
Using Pew's 2/3-to-2x rule on a three-person household: about $54,002–$161,200 nationally. A single-person household scales down by 1/√3 (about 58%) of those bounds; a five-person household scales up by √(5/3) (about 129%). Local medians matter more than national — $96,300 in California vs $54,200 in Mississippi produces very different bands.
Is the middle class shrinking?
Pew's longitudinal research shows the share of adults living in middle-income households fell from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2023. But the composition of the shift is mixed: the upper-income tier grew faster than the lower-income tier, meaning more households moved up than down. Real median household income has grown, though slower than top-decile income. The squeeze people feel is usually a housing, healthcare, and college-cost story rather than pure wage stagnation.
What is upper-middle class income?
Under Pew's classification, upper-middle class runs from 2x to 3x the size-adjusted median. Nationally for a three-person household in 2026, that's roughly $161,200–$241,800. Above that is upper class by income alone — though wealth (net worth) is a better indicator of the upper tier than income, because high earners can still have thin balance sheets.
Does middle class vary by state?
Yes — dramatically. The middle-class ceiling in Maryland is nearly double Mississippi's. A $110,000 household income lands a three-person family in the upper-middle band in Mississippi, squarely middle class in Texas, and at the lower end of middle class in Maryland. Cost of living roughly tracks local medians, so the classification is more useful than the absolute dollar figure when comparing between places.
Why does household size matter?
A $100,000 income supports one person much more easily than a family of five. Pew uses an equivalence scale of √(household size / 3), which reflects that each additional person adds less to expenses than the first (shared housing, shared utilities, kid-scale food costs). So the middle-class band for a five-person household is about 29% wider in dollar terms than the band for a three-person household at the same reference median.