Based on income earned before taxes by the third quintile, middle class incomes\u00a0in Rhode Island declined the most in the country. Incomes among middle class Rhode Island households fell by 3.1% from 2010 to 2014, while income among the state\u2019s fifth quintile, the top 20% of state households, grew by 4.5%. \u00a0This is representative, but to a greater extent, of what has happened to the distribution of income across the U.S. \u00a0See next article.<\/p>\n
Observations in this article about characteristics of the states with the greatest middle income losses (not all found in every bottom 10 states):<\/p>\n
- \n
- More regressive taxation.<\/li>\n
- Low or declining union membership<\/li>\n
- High property taxes<\/li>\n
- More than average employment decline<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Econintersect<\/em>: \u00a0However, ranking of growth in high incomes shows little correlation with the decline in middle incomes. \u00a0The ten states have an average rank of of 21 (rank 1 being the greatest high income gain). \u00a0None of the ten states ranked by greatest middle income loss ranked in the top ten for high income gain (Maine had the highest rank – 11th). \u00a0But neither did any of the top \u00a0ten states for middle income loss rank in the bottom two quintiles for high income gain (South Carolina had the lowest rank – 29th). \u00a0These observations appear to indicate that state by state the loss of middle income is not strongly associated with either (1) large high income increases or (2) general economic decline for a state.<\/p>\n
Here are the ten states that have had the greatest middle income losses between 2010:<\/p>\n
10. \u00a0Arkansas \u00a09. \u00a0New York\u00a08. \u00a0Montana\u00a07. \u00a0California\u00a06. \u00a0South Carolina\u00a05. \u00a0Tennessee\u00a04. \u00a0North Carolina\u00a03. \u00a0Maine\u00a02. \u00a0Georgia\u00a01. \u00a0Rhode Island<\/p>\n
![\"FT_15.09.16_econInqualityUpdate\"](\"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/FT_15.09.16_econInqualityUpdate.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"States Where the Middle Class Is\u00a0Dying\u00a0in the US\u00a0There are many possible definitions of the middle class. \u00a0One very logical definition involves dividing incomes into five quintiles. \u00a0Then the income classes can be labelled as follows: Lowest quintile: \u00a0Low Income Second … Continue reading