Middle Class

While the size of the U.S. middle class remained relatively stable between 2002 and 2016, financial gains for middle-income Americans were modest compared with those of higher-income households.

Majorities of Americans say the federal government does not provide enough help for older people (65%), poor people (62%) and the middle class (61%). By contrast, nearly two-thirds (64%) say the government provides too much help for wealthy people.

The U.S. has more foreign students enrolled in its colleges and universities than any other country in the world. Explore data about foreign students in the U.S. higher education system.

Most Americans say they have achieved the "American dream" or are on their way to achieving it. Yet, the American dream means different things to different people.

The American middle class is smaller than middle classes across Western Europe, but its income is higher.

The European Union, Norway and Switzerland received nearly 66,000 asylum applications from unaccompanied minor migrants (those younger than 18 applying without a parent or guardian) in 2016, a decline of nearly 40% from 2015’s record total but still well above the total of prior years, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency.

As part of a new study, Pew Research Center designed income calculators to help you determine where you fit on the income ladder in Western Europe.

A Pew Research Center analysis of income data from 11 Western European countries finds considerable differences in the fortunes of the middle classes in those countries. See where you fall on your country's income ladder.

The fortunes of the middle classes across Western Europe are moving in different directions. Some nations are experiencing both growing incomes and expanding middle classes, while other nations are witness to stagnant or declining incomes and shrinking middle classes, a new Pew Research Center analysis of 11 Western European countries has found. But in a few other countries studied, the middle-class shares are decreasing even as incomes overall are rising.

From 1991 to 2010, the middle class expands in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but, as in the United States, shrinks in Germany, Italy and Spain