How much must you make to be middle class in metro-east? New Census data gives clues
Much hay has been made about the country’s shrinking middle class, but what exactly the middle class is depends on where you live.
Pew Research Center’s oft-cited definition of the middle class at the national level is a range. The bottom of the range equals two-thirds of a given area’s median household income, and the top is double the median income. Pew adjusts for the cost of living at the local level.
Here’s what that looks like in the metro-east region using numbers in the 2024 American Community Survey, released in January by the U.S. Census Bureau. Note we did not adjust for the cost of living.
For the purposes of this article, the counties of Bond, Clinton, Madison, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington are considered the metro-east.
The wealth of an area can drastically change the meaning of middle income. In Monroe County, the wealthiest county in the area by median income, it would take a household income of $68,600 to be considered middle class. Monroe County has the highest median housing costs in the area at $1,308 per month, according to the survey.
Bond County is on the opposite end of the spectrum. It would take a household income of $43,973 to be considered middle income there, without accounting for cost of living. Median monthly housing costs in Bond County are almost $882 per month.
St. Clair County has the highest median housing cost to income ratio. Median income in the county is $73,854, with a middle income range of $49,236 to $147,708. Median housing costs in the county are $1,129 per month.
The definition of the middle class changes with median household income over time. Median household income rose between 15% and 34% in the seven counties analyzed since 2019. Inflation over the same period was 23%. Median income rose the most in St. Clair County and the least in Bond County.
