Everyone calls themselves “middle class.” No, really—just 10% of Americans identify as lower class, and only 1% identify as upper class.
But by definition, not everyone can actually be “middle class,” or the term loses all meaning.
If we can’t even define “middle class,” how can we define the more narrow “upper-middle class”?
Regardless of how you define it, however, real estate investing can definitely get you there faster.
A Few Numbers to Define Upper-Middle Class
One way to define the upper-middle class is by net worth.
For the sake of argument, let’s call the bottom 25% of percentiles lower class, the 25th-75th percentile middle class, the 75th to 90th percentile upper-middle class, and the top 10% upper class. The most recent Current Population Survey from the Federal Reserve shows that Americans in the 75th to 90th percentile have a net worth of $658,340 – $1,920,758.
Alternatively, you could define upper-middle class by income. Using the same range of the 75th to 90th percentile, that would mean a household income range of $144,770 – $234,769 (using the same CPS data).
Some analysts ignore percentiles in favor of a different approach. A 2025 analysis by GoBankingRates defined the middle class as those earning between two-thirds to double the area median income (AMI). That comes with the advantage of being more targeted, as local incomes and costs of living vary dramatically across the country.
For instance, a household income of just $85,424 would land you in the upper-middle class in Mississippi. But in Maryland (where I just moved back to from Peru), it takes at least $158,126 to qualify.
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