Are You Upper, Middle, or Lower Class? 3 Ways to Find Out

The share of middle class Americans has fallen in the last 50 years. And while most (51%) are still middle class, according to the Pew Research Center, it makes sense to question how those classes are broken up. For the curious, there are simple ways to tell based on the state of your finances.

But first, it's important to note that your current financial situation doesn't necessarily mean you're stuck in your given class bracket forever. There are steps you can take to improve your finances, such as using a budgeting app.

Here are three ways to find out where you fall along the class spectrum, and more tips for improving your finances.

1. Credit score

One key factor that you can use to determine what class you would fall into is your credit score. For reference, here's how the FICO scoring model defines the various brackets:

• Poor: <580
• Fair: 580 to 669
• Good: 670 to 739
• Very good: 740 to 799
• Exceptional: 800-plus

With that in mind, here are the median credit scores across various incomes:

• Low income: 658
• Moderate income: 692
• Middle income: 735
• High income: 774

Here, moderate and middle income individuals can be interpreted as being middle class. Low income then correlates to lower class, and high income to upper class. So this means that if you have a "good" credit score, you're likely middle class.

2. Net worth

Another way to determine where you fall is to look at your net worth. That includes all of your assets weighed against your current debts (so it's absolutely possible to have a negative net worth). Here are the average net worths of each class, according to the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey of Consumer Finances:

• Lower class: $16,900
• Lower-middle class: $58,550
• Middle class: $169,420
• Upper-middle class: $300,800
• Upper class: $793,120 or more

3. Income

Your income can be another telling factor when it comes to figuring out where you likely fall in American class structure. The 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances also looked at the median income of those in each class category. Here are those brackets:

• Lower class: $30,000 or less
• Lower-middle class: $30,001 to $58,020
• Middle class: $58,021 and $94,000
• Upper-middle class: $94,000 and $153,000
• Upper class: $153,001 or more

These are just a few of the factors that can help you figure out what class you may fall into right now. But keep in mind that your location can also have a big impact here. After all, $100,000 in a small town is going to make you feel a lot richer than the same salary in a city like Los Angeles. Ultimately, how you feel about your finances is a lot more important.

Here's how you can improve your financial situation

Your credit score, net worth, and income are important factors in evaluating your financial health. There are many ways that you can improve those factors. And although it can be a long and difficult process, it's more than worth it in the long run.

For example, paying off consumer debt like credit cards is a solid first step to increasing your net worth and raising your credit score, if there's room in your budget. Building an emergency fund is another key step that can also help improve your overall finances since it would provide a cushion if an expensive and unavoidable problem arises, and it would boost your net worth. Or if you're already there, you could start (or continue) investing in the stock market to grow your money.

Income can be a tricky factor to tackle, especially when so many folks are having to deal with issues like "ghost" job listings wasting their time and mass layoffs becoming the norm. But it's also one of the most impactful factors here.

If possible, asking for a raise (and making your case with evidence that you're a high performer) or getting a higher-paying job elsewhere can be excellent options. Plus, these can be the key to boosting your credit score and net worth simultaneously, making it that much easier to make real headway in moving up a class bracket.

Knowing where you stand is always useful, but, ultimately, these data points are only as important as you want them to be. So it's up to you to decide exactly what will make the most impact for your daily life as well as your financial future.