The state has the second highest rate of inflation in the US
According to the Pew Research Center and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the minimum annual income required for a family of four to be considered in New York, part of the middle class, rose to $81,396 in 2023.
It takes a lot of money to get into the middle class in New York State due to soaring inflation and slow wage growth have driven up the cost of living.
Living in New York state is becoming increasingly more expensive for the middle class, according to the Pew Research Center and the federal government.
In 2023, the amount was $7,000 more than it would have been for a couple with two children in 2022 year, when the minimum income was $74,908, and about $20,000 more than the $60,328 it took to live middle class in 2016.
Meanwhile, joining the middle class in the Big Apple is will cost even more: the minimum annual income was $318,406, according to a separate study by SmartAsset.
«It's scary, — financial literacy expert David Delisle spoke out. — Housing is becoming expensive for most people, and that's creating a bigger and bigger gap.»
DeLisle pointed to record inflation, which has soared 17 percent since President Joe Biden took office, leading to a decline in middle class throughout the country.
“Revenues are not keeping up with inflation as much as we are seeing an increase in all other expenses,” — explains DeLisle.
New York State's minimum income level in 2023 was second only to Hawaii, where a family of four needed $82,630 to be considered middle class. The District of Columbia matched the cost of New York State, which was slightly more expensive than neighboring New Jersey and Connecticut.
By comparison, the median income for a middle-class family of four in 2021 was $70,784, according to Census data.
The lowest-income state to be considered middle-class was Alabama , Arkansas, Arizona, West Virginia and Mississippi.
A family of four living in Mississippi needed to earn $60,431.
In 2022, the Pew Research Center conducted a study that found that the share of American adults who can be classified as middle class has declined significantly over the five decades from 1971 to 2021. Fifty years ago, 61 percent of U.S. adults were middle class, while only 14 percent had higher incomes. However, in 2021, the number of adults classified as middle class fell to 50 percent, while the number of those with higher incomes increased to 21 percent.
The study found that the proportion of people with low incomes has also increased — 29 percent in 2021, up from 25 percent in 1971.
Meanwhile, the rich are getting richer at a faster rate than those in the middle and lower income classes, according to the study.
By According to Pew, median income for upper-level households rose 69 percent from 1970 ($130,008) to 2020 ($219,572). As for middle-income families, their average income increased by 50 percent — from $59,934 in 1970 to $90,131 in 2020. Incomes for low-income families increased by 45 percent — from $20,604 in 1970 to $29,963 in 2020.
If current trends continue, the middle class could shrink even further.
«If we don't have that middle class, everything will be bad and unstable, — DeLisle thinks. — We'll have people who can't afford to live and people who have more money than they know what to do with.»