GIF courtesy of the Financial Times (article is worth a read too) shows how the middle class has changed over time. It is now less than 1/2 of the households in America:

Questions for your students:

• What is the chart measuring?
• How much does a household need to earn in 2015 to be considered middle income?
• Identify at least three changes that you notice in the income distributions when you compare 1971 to 2015.
• What happened to incomes between 2008 and 2011?
• What change do you see in the percentage of households earning over $200,000 when comparing 1971 to 2015?

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.