The percentage of Americans in the upper middle class has doubled since 1979.
CNN Money reports that 29 percent of people in the U.S. can be classified as upper middle class, meaning they have a household income between $100,000 and $250,000 for a three-person family. In 1979, only 13 percent of Americans achieved that class status (defined then as earning between $36,500 and $127,700 per year).
The figures come from a new Urban Institute report, which also found that the percentage of wealthy Americans has increased over the last 37 years, from 0.1 percent to 1.8 percent. The rate of the middle and lower middle classes have shrunk slightly (seven percent each) in the same time frame.
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