Decline of the middle class, in Federal Reserve data. If it seems like the middle class is declining, it's not your imagination.
The definition of "middle class" they are using is "50th to 90th wealth percentiles". Between 2003 and Q1 2021, the middle class went from 36% to 28% of the nation's wealth, an 8% drop. Most of that went to the upper 1%, which went from 25% to 32%, a 7% increase.
"One explanation might be that the very rich hold their wealth in stocks or other hard assets like properties which respond better to inflation. The middle class instead gains most of its wealth through income which tends to be sticky with wages not rising in real terms since the 70s."
