What Qualifies as Middle-Income in Each State

What qualifies as lower, middle, and upper income? There are various definitions, but the Pew Research Center defined middle-income as two-thirds to double the median. Upper is then everything that is greater than double the median, and lower is everything that is less than two-thirds the median.

Here’s what you get when you apply this definition to each state and adjust for household size.

Household Middle-Income

Bars represent a range for each state, sorted by median and adjusted for household size.

 

This is based on data from the 2017 five-year American Community Survey. I was surprised to see so much variation in rankings when you move between household sizes.

For example, California is towards the top for smaller households, but then shifts towards the middle once you get to five-person households. Montana, on the other hand, shifts in the opposite direction. Makes me wonder how these differences relate to family types.

Percentage of Households in Each Income Level

With the thresholds, we can estimate the overall breakdowns.

Notes

  • The data comes from the 2017 5-year American Community Survey. I downloaded the data via IPUMS.
  • I used R to analyze and process the data. I used D3.js to make the chart.

Become a member. Support an independent site. Make great charts.

See What You Get

Favorites

Divorce and Occupation

Some jobs tend towards higher divorce rates. Some towards lower. Salary also probably plays a role.

A Day in the Life: Work and Home

I simulated a day for employed Americans to see when and where they work.

Who We Spend Time with as We Get Older

In high school, we spend most of our days with friends and immediate family. But then we get jobs, start a family, retire, and there’s a shift in who we spend our days with.

How to Spot Visualization Lies

Many charts don’t tell the truth. This is a simple guide to spotting them.