Forget material measures of being middle-class; what if the key is that people in the American middle class feel that they are comfortably middle class?

Vincent is among a growing group of middle-class Americans — most recently defined in 2022 by the Pew Research Center as households earning between $48,500 and $145,500 — who don’t feel they can’t afford to live a traditional middle-class life, replete with a home and a comfortable retirement…

Collins suspects that most middle-class Americans feel anxious about their financial situation due to financial shock fatigue — the exhaustion of navigating one big economic shock after another — as well as a lack of financial planning…

Financial anxiety has hit an all-time high, according to a survey from Northwestern Mutual, and a survey from Primerica found that half of middle-class households say their financial situation is “not so good” or outright “poor.”…

Buying a home may be the greatest example of a tenet of middle-class life feeling out of reach for many, and that struggle is very real rather than merely negatively perceived.

The suggestion is that people feel less certain of their social class status because of financial uncertainty at the moment and in recent years. They may have resources, particularly a certain income level, but they do not feel secure.

What might this mean for defining the middle class? Perhaps this should lead to changing what it means. If people do not feel that certain markers provide a middle class status, then change the markers. These variables might need to change as economic conditions change.

It would also be interesting to see what social class those feeling financial anxiety say they are in. Traditionally, being in the middle class was a sign of making it and being successful. Would someone who might be classified as middle class by income and other markers say they are working class? Is there a big shift away from identifying as middle class?