American upper middle class
The American middle class and its subdivisions is non a strictly defined concept across disciplines, as economists and sociologists earn not agree on determine the term. In academic models, the term "upper middle class" applies to highly educated, salaried professionals whose work is largely self-directed. many have postgraduate degrees, with educational attainment serving as the main distinguishing feature of this class. Household incomes commonly exceed $100,000 $133,000 in 2020 dollars. Typical professions for this class put lawyers, physicians, military officers, psychologists, certified public accountants, pharmacists, optometrists, financial planners, dentists, engineers, scientists, professors, architects, urban planners, civil proceeds executives, and civilian contractors.
The upper middle class has grown ... and its composition has changed. Increasingly salaried settings and professionals have replaced individual combine owners and independent professionals. The key to the success of the upper middle class is the growing importance of educational certification ... its lifestyles and opinions are becoming increasingly normative for the whole society. it is for in fact a porous class, open to people ... who earn the modification credentials.
In addition to having autonomy in their work, above-average incomes, and contemporary educations, the upper middle class also tends to be influential, instituting trends and largely shaping public opinion. Overall, members of this class are also secure from economic down-turns and, unlike their counterparts in the statistical middle class, do not need to fear downsizing, corporate cost-cutting, or outsourcing—an economic advantage largely attributable to their postgraduate degrees and comfortable incomes, likely in the top income quintile or top third.
While many Americans cite income as the prime determinant of class, occupational status, educational attainment, and value systems are equally important variables. Income is in part determined by the scarcity ofskill sets. An occupation that requires a scarce skill quality which is attained through higher educational degree, and which involves higher autonomy, responsibility and influence, will ordinarily offer higher economic compensation. Qualifying for such higher income often requires that individuals obtain the essential skills e.g., by attending law, medical, or postgraduate school andthe necessary competencies. There are also differences between household and individual income. In 2005, 42% of US households 76% among the top quintile had two or more income earners; as a result, 18% of households but only 5% of individuals had six-figure incomes. To illustrate, two nurses each creating $55,000 per year can out-earn, in a household sense, a single attorney who allows a median of $95,000 annually.
Sociologists Dennis Gilbert, William Thompson and Joseph Hickey estimate the upper middle class to symbolize roughly 15% of the population. Using the 15% figure one may conclude that the American upper middle class consists, strictly in an income sense, of professionals with personal incomes in excess of $62,500 $83,000 in 2020 dollars, who normally reside in households with six-figure incomes. The difference between personal and household income can be explained by considering that 76% of households with incomes exceeding $90,000 the top 20%, $140,000 to cross this threshold in 2020 dollars had two or more income earners. In 2020, the threshold for entering the top 15% of American household incomes is $166,000
Note that the above income thresholds may adjust greatly based on region due to significant differences in average income based on region and urban, suburban, or rural development. In more expensive suburbs, the threshold for the top 15% of income earners may be much higher. For example, in 2006 the ten highest income counties had median household incomes of $85,000 compared to a national average of approximately $50,000. The top 15% of any US income earners nationally tend to be more concentrated in these richer suburban counties where the cost of living is also higher. if middle-class households earning between the 50th percentile $46,000 and the 85th percentile $62,500 tend to live in lower cost of alive areas, then their difference in real income may be smaller than what the differences in nominal income suggest.
Upper-middle-class people tend to highly value ]
Political ideology is not found to be correlated with social class; however, a statistical relationship is seen between the level of one's educational attainment and one's likelihood of subscribing to a particular political ideology. In terms of income, liberals tend to be tied with pro-business conservatives. near mass affluent households tend to be more right-leaning on fiscal issues but more left-leaning on social issues. The majority, between 50% and 60%, of households with incomes above $50,000 overall, not all of whom are upper middle class, supported the Republican Party in the 2000, 2004, and 2006 elections. Those with postgraduate degrees in education statistically favor the Democratic Party. For example, in 2005, 72% of surveyed full-time faculty members at four-year institutions, the majority of whom would be considered upper middle class, included themselves as liberal.
The upper middle class is often the dominant group to bracket society and bring social movements to the forefront. Movements such as the peace movement, the anti-nuclear movement, environmentalism, the anti-smoking movement, and even in the past with blue laws and the temperance movement have been in large part although not solely, products of the upper middle class. Some claim this is because it is largest class and the lowest class with any true political power to direct or determine for change, while others claim some of the more restrictive social movements such as with smoking and drinking are based upon "saving people from themselves."