The Typical American, Middle Class Ending?

We often hear politicians, marketers, friends, and family speaking out for the Middle Class, but how do we define just who falls into the Middle Class?

Well, according to the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey, about 78% of Americans fit into the Middle Class if we define that as a household earning a median household income between $15,000 and $149,000 per year.  Another 12% of Americans earn less than $15,000 a year.  And if you and your household earn more than $150,000 a year, you belong to the top 10% of household earners and thus the Upper Class.

If you are smack dab in the middle of the Middle Class, your household earns around $53,000, the median household income.

Median income, however, is on a continuum.  So it is subjective how we define Lower, Middle, and Upper Classes of people.  Moreover, sociologists find that what class people identify with has far more complexity than simply how much money one earns.

In fact, recently the Pew Research Center found that the percentage of Americans who identify as Middle Class has dropped to the point that almost as many Americans now identify as Lower Class.  Americans identifying as Upper Class have also declined since the Great Recession hit at the end of the Bush administration.

Thus, no majority of Americans identify with any social class since around 2011.  Instead, the plurality still identifies as Middle Class but just barely.

The Typical American, Work

Like nearly two-thirds of the population (64.7%), Jennifer, our Typical American, is part of the labor force. She is currently employed as a teacher, health care worker, social worker, or similar service worker (22.9%).

Jennifer works for a wage at a private company (78.7%) that provides her with a health insurance benefit.

The Typical American, Born in the USA?

According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, 1 in 7 American residents were born outside the United States.  About half of the foreign-born residents are now US citizens.  With the focus of "birther" conspiracists who argue that President Obama was born outside the US, there has been more attention given to the Constitution's requirement that only a natural born citizen can be President.  There are some interesting political factoids around this issue and recent US presidential elections:

• In 2012, the fathers of both the Democratic (Obama) and Republican (Romney) candidates were born outside the United States.  President Obama's father was born in Kenya.  Gov. Romney's father was born in Mexico.  
• In the 2008 presidential election, the Republican candidate, John McCain, was born outside the US. He was born in Panama in what was then the US Panama Canal Zone to American parents.  His grandfather and father at the time were commanders of the Coco Solo submarine base and a submarine based there.
• At one time there was discussion about amending the US Constitution to allow any citizen to run for President.  This discussion arose around the possibility of Austrian-born former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger running for President.

So exactly how does one become a natural born citizen?  The Constitution does not define this term but according to Wikipedia, a 2011 Congressional Research Service report laid out the argument that this term applied to anyone who met the requirements for citizenship at birth.  Thus, that would include anyone born in the United States regardless of whether one, two, or none of the baby's parents are US citizens.  US Senator Ted Cruz for example was until recently both an American and Canadian citizen because he was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father.  He has since renounced his Canadian citizenship. While his father was not a US citizen until 2005, I do not know if his Cuban-born father was a Cuban or Canadian by citizenship at the time of his birth.  Cruz could possibly file to have Cuba recognize him as a citizen too!

The second way one becomes a natural born citizen is by being born to an American citizen who is abroad.  George Romney (former governor of Michigan and Mitt Romney's father), John McCain, and Ted Cruz all fit this category.  Oddly, even if Barack Obama was born in Kenya -as some birthers claim- to his Kansas-born American mother, he would still be a natural born citizen.  These birthers obsess about where he was born but none appear to refute that his mother was an American citizen.

The US is a nation born of immigrants stretching back 10,000s of years to when the first humans arrived.  That process is not complete:  today millions of Americans are newcomers to this country.

The Typical American, Moving

Have you moved in the past year?  If so, you do not match the profile of Jennifer, our Typical American. Still, many Americans move each year.  One in 7 Americans moved in 2012 according to data from the 2012 American Community Survey.

Be sure to check out this earlier post about Chris Walker's visualization of interstate migration.

The Typical American, Veterans

Has Jennifer, our Typical American, ever served in the military?  According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, the answer is no.  Among Americans 18 years and older, fewer than 1 in 10 are veterans.

The Typical American, Disability

According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, 12% of Americans report they are disabled.

The Typical American and Her Wheels

What can the American Community Survey (ACS) tell us about the typical American?  Well, Americans use cars a lot:

• Jennifer, our typical American, and her husband have 2 or more vehicles (57.3%).
• Like 76.1% of workers 16 years and older, Jennifer drives to work alone.
• Her average commuting time to work is 25.4 minutes.

UPDATE: The Typical American, English Language

Last night's Super Bowl commercial by Coca Cola featured various Americans singing America the Beautiful in different languages.  Strangely to me this commercial has triggered a backlash by the more xenophobic elements in American society.  Here's the commercial on YouTube and some statistics on the 1 in 5 Americans whose first language is not English.  America, c'est belle, no?

This backlash reminds me of a story floating around the web about two people waiting in line at the supermarket.  One person, a woman, is talking to a family member on the phone.  When she hangs up, the man behind her tells her that this is America and that if she wants to speak 'Mexican' she needs to go back to Mexico.  She looks him in the eye and informs him she was speaking Navajo and that if he wants to speak English he can go back to England. ;)

From its earliest days, the US has been a melting pot of languages from around the world.  The Founding Fathers almost voted to make German the language of government back in the 1700s!  In the 13 British colonies which became the original states, English was the most widespread language.

According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, English still dominates with 4 out of 5 Americans speaking only English at home.  Yet, a sizeable number of Americans -1 in 5- do speak other languages at home.

Case in point:  A few years ago I looked into having a survey of Kentucky high school children translated into other languages.  When I checked, I found out that Kentucky schools -yes, Kentucky, not the most diverse state by any means- taught children whose primary languages included over 70 different languages! While English is the most common language in Kentucky schools and Spanish is the second most common, I was surprised that the third most common was Bosnian.  Kentucky has a rather sizeable Bosnian immigrant population who came to the area as war refugees.

The Typical American, Education

The American Community Survey collects data on educational attainment.  Among Americans aged 25 years and older:

86% have a high school diploma or higher (includes equivalencies such as a GED). 

57.5% of Americans 25 and older have attended college.  

28.5% -or roughly 1 in 3.5- have a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

So like the majority of Americans, Jennifer, our Typical American, graduated high school.  Like the plurality of Americans however, she did not attend college.  If you have a college degree, you are among an elite minority in the United States in terms of educational attainment.

The Typical American, Children

Does Jennifer, our Typical American, have children living at home?  The American Community Survey (US Census Bureau) tells us that a minority (around 30%) of households have children living with a parent.  So, no, Jennifer does not have children.  She and her husband fit into the household type making up the plurality in the US:  married without children.

The Typical American, Sex & Age