Middle Class Survey

WASHINGTON (AP) - Are you better off now than you were five
years ago?
Growing numbers of middle-class Americans say they are not.
Results of a survey by the Pew Research Center reflect economic
pressures amid growing debt.
The survey paints a mixed picture for the 53 percent of adults
in the country who define themselves as middle class. They have
household incomes ranging from below 40-thousand to more than
100-thousand dollars.
One in four of those questioned said their economic situation
had not improved. Nearly a third said they had fallen backward.
Those numbers together are the highest since the survey questions
were first asked in 1964.
But most middle-class people were upbeat when asked to measure
their progress over a longer timeframe. Two-thirds said their
standard of living is better than the one their parents had at the
age they are now.
Their level of optimism still lags behind their richer
counterparts. Eighty percent of richer people said they exceeded
their parents' standard of living.

Pew Research Center: http://pewsocialtrends.org/