How dual incomes and the tech boom turned the upper middle class into America’s biggest income group

The ranks of Americans that can add guac to their burrito bowl guilt-free have swelled. The upper middle class has become the largest income group in the US, according to a recent analysis by the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute, highlighted by the Wall Street Journal.

The report contends that the lower rungs of the middle class shrank because more Americans got richer:

In 2024, 31% of American families were upper middle class, compared with just 10% in 1979.

The think tank’s report defined the upper middle class as a family of three earning $133k to $400k in 2024 dollars—five to 15 times the federal poverty line.

Meanwhile, the share of American households living in or near poverty declined from almost 30% in 1979 to below 19% in 2024.

‘We’re comfortable’ class

The Wall Street Journal notes that upper middle class folks are often white-collar professionals in dual-income households, who have benefitted from women’s advances in the workforce and rising wages in fields like software engineering. Many are boomers raking in sizable pension payments made possible by stock market gains.

This group’s shopping habits are behind the rise of bougie goods and services, like first-class plane tickets, which have been a major driver of US economic growth.

But…economic inequality has also grown, with families in higher tax brackets seeing greater income growth while the poorest 5% seeing their earnings decline.—SK

This report was originally published by Morning Brew.

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