How To Tell if You’re Poor, Middle-Class, Upper Middle-Class or Rich – MASHAHER

Class is an indicator of socioeconomic status that acts as more than a simple metric. It carries a significant amount of weight with how we view ourselves and others. Your class is also not static; it can change as you age – this is known as upward or downward mobility and while it doesn’t happen as often as we might think, it still occurs.

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Moreover, there are indicators of class that correlate to a specific class that don’t necessarily place you in that category. For instance, a graduate student’s stipend might net them $20,000 a year or so; this would put them in a lower class, but you have to consider their future income based on the time put into education. Another individual might have gone bankrupt for one reason or another, but it comes from wealth. While they temporarily have no income, they still have the support of the upper class they were raised in.

You might be questioning where you fit in due to recent and ongoing economic trends, including high inflation, layoffs, future recession worries and the continuing effects of the pandemic. Here are the markers that would indicate whether you are poor, working-class, middle-class, upper-middle-class or rich:

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Poor (~20% of population; <1% of total wealth)

• Unstable housing

• Limited access to higher education

• Heavy debt

• Difficulty paying basic expenses

• Accustomed to the sharing of resources

• Disproportionate incarceration rates

• Treated as a burden/expendable

• Lack of access to healthcare

Working-Class (~40% of population; ~3% of total wealth)

• Manual labor: working for the middle/upper class

• Sometimes, they have access to higher education, with student loans being an issue

• Limited savings, living from paycheck-to-paycheck

• Debt is a daily concern

• Somewhat stable housing

• Also treated poorly

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Middle-Class (~20% of total population; ~8% of total wealth)

• Stable housing/homeownership

• Stable employment

• Jobs tend to have ideal benefits

• Higher education

• Debt usually from mortgage/education

Upper-Class (~19% of population; ~49% of total wealth)

Rich (~1% of population; ~40% of total wealth)

• Own the largest, nicest homes

• Full-time work is optional

• Elite schools and higher education

• Large inheritances

• Wide range of social connections

• Treated as leaders

• Access to the best legal aid

• Hold positions of notable power/esteem

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Net Worth for US Families: How To Tell if You’re Poor, Middle-Class, Upper Middle-Class or Rich