Middle Class Is Vanishing Into Poverty

An increasingly smaller percentage of Americans are considered middle class—and that’s because they are falling down, not climbing up the economic ladder. While 53 percent of Americans were middle class in 1967, that figure has fallen to 43 percent today. According to a New York Times analysis, since 2000, families living with an income less than $35,000, has risen from 31 to 34 percent. More of the middle class is also comprised of people over the age of 65, as senior citizens today have greater benefits than previous generations. Married couples with children make up only about a quarter of middle-class households.