The 20 US cities where the middle class is shrinking fastest

(NEXSTAR) – Americans in every state, city and corner of the country are feeling the squeeze amid years (upon years) of rising prices. As the cost of living grows and wages for many workers stagnate, a middle-class lifestyle can feel more elusive.

A Pew Research study found about 51% of Americans live in middle-class households in 2023, down from 61% in 1971.

“As a result, Americans are more apart than before financially. From 1971 to 2023, the share of Americans who live in lower-income households increased from 27% to 30%, and the share in upper-income households increased from 11% to 19%,” Pew wrote.

The researchers found that Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native families are more likely to be in lower income tiers. So are people that in metro areas throughout the Southwest, from McAllen, Texas, to Bakersfield, California, Pew found.

Personal finance site MoneyGeek took a closer look at household income data to figure out where the middle class is shrinking over time. When looking at Census data for 600 cities, they found 367 had declines in the size of the middle class between 2017 and 2022.

Some of the changes were dramatic, like in Springdale, Arkansas, and Carmel, Indiana, where the middle class shrunk by double-digit percentage points in 5 years.

The 20 cities with the biggest drop in middle-income households, according to MoneyGeek, were:

Rank	City	Drop in middle-income households (2017-22)	Percentage of households that are middle income	Middle income range	Population size (2022)
1	Springdale, AR	-12.0%	43.2%	$39,351-$118,054	85,844
2	Carmel, IN	-10.7%	41.0%	$86,888-$260,664	101,286
3	Rockville, MD	-9.7%	37.2%	$70,892-$212,676	66,915
4	Yorba Linda, CA	-9.3%	42.0%	$101,023-$303,068	67,077
5	The Woodlands, TX	-9.2%	35.0%	$91,557-$274,670	117,970
6	Union City, CA	-8.8%	38.4%	$98,973-$296,920	67,049
7	Bellflower, CA	-8.6%	37.5%	$49,421-$148,262	76,405
8	Castro Valley, CA	-8.2%	38.0%	$88,857-$266,570	66,506
9	O’Fallon, MO	-8.1%	45.7%	$70,160-$210,480	93,648
10	Sandy Springs, GA	-8.1%	39.1%	$69,596-$208,788	107,767
11	Layton, UT	-8.0%	47.6%	$66,790-$200,370	82,600
12	Melbourne, FL	-7.6%	37.3%	$42,887-$128,662	86,439
13	Daly City, CA	-7.6%	40.1%	$72,818-$218,454	99,990
14	Dale City, VA	-7.6%	44.0%	$64,809-$194,428	66,140
15	Arlington Heights, IL	-7.5%	36.8%	$75,980-$227,940	74,207
16	Bowling Green, KY	-7.3%	37.6%	$30,541-$91,624	74,929
17	North Port, FL	-7.2%	47.7%	$52,391-$157,174	85,102
18	Newport Beach, CA	-7.1%	35.0%	$84,902-$254,706	83,981
19	Citrus Heights, CA	-6.9%	43.7%	$49,282-$147,846	86,440
20	Renton, WA	-6.8%	40.1%	$62,259-$186,776	104,060

While it can be hard to define what it feels like to be middle class, MoneyGeek and Pew define “middle income” as earning between two-thirds and double the city’s median household income. That means a family earning $150,000 a year in ultra-expensive Santa Clara, California, would qualify as middle income.

However, that same family would be upper income in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the middle household income ranges from $30,000 to $90,000.

You can see MoneyGeek’s full dataset on the 367 cities with shrinking middle classes here.