by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
What’s left unsaid is much of the upper middle class is prospering due to privileged positions that are increasingly at risk of disruption.
What does it take to be upper middle class? According to one analyst, the answer is: at least $100,000 a year for a family of three. The Growing Size and Incomes of the Upper Middle Class (Urban Institute).
The paper claims the upper middle class has grown from 12.9% of the population in 1979 to 29.4% in 2014–in essence, the shrinkage of the “middle class” is not just from households dropping down the ladder but millions of households climbing up to the upper middle class.
Not Just the 1%: The Upper Middle Class Is Larger and Richer Than Ever (WSJ.com)