M a r k D i l l e y

How much is a middle-of-the-road middle-class salary? $60,000 a year? $40,000? That the impression you would get by watching and listening to the media. But people in the U.S are much poorer than that.

According to the Census Bureau, out of the 230.4 million people in America who are old enough to work (15 and over), only 29.1 million make $60,000 a year or more. That's only slightly more than one tenth. And 57.9 million make over $40,000 a year: almost exactly one quarter. The remaining 75% of all adults in the U.S. make less than $40,000 a year.

(The math is mine, and so is my understanding of the raw data. I'm not an expert. Please check the source and see for yourself. And let me know if I got it wrong.)

This is how it breaks down:

Number of people making $7,500 to $25,000: 71.3 million

Number of people making $25,000 to $42,500: 46.7 million

Number of people making $42,500 to $60,000: 21.7 million

Number of people making $60,000 to $77,500: 12.7 million

Number of people making $77,500 to $100,000: 7.0 million

Number of people making $100,000 or more: 9.4 million

Median income: $23,186