When asking Americans how they would describe their families' wealth and social status, most will answer with the non-descriptive label of "middle class." But what exactly does this mean? While there is no clear definition of who belongs in this group, there are a few guidelines for a rough sketch of an American middle class household. First, on the basis of annual household after-tax income, most studies agree that the "middle class" is grouped around the national average, in the range of $21,300 to $63,300 (in 1996 dollars). The lower and upper ends of this range represent the 20th and 90th percentile of the population, accounting for 70 percent of U.S. households. This definition includes all sources of income, from wages to Social Security to food stamps. Some authors propose that 75 percent and 125 percent of the national median should be used as the extremes. In 1994, the median income in the United States was $32,264, therefore the "middle class" range would be from $24,198 to $40,330. Using the 75/125 method means almost 25 percent of the U.S. population is middle class. Other methods for categorizing the middle class include social criteria (based on factors such as educational level and occupation) and certain income indices. One of these indices rates households on an income-to-needs basis, where a score of one signifies household income that borders on the poverty level. Using this ratio, middle class can be defined as scores ranging from 2 to 5, which was approximately 50 percent of American households in 1989. http://cber.cba.ua.edu/rbriefs/middle2.html