Think You’re Middle Class? Here’s How Much Money That Takes In NJ

NEW JERSEY — About half of Americans are part of the middle class, but what it takes to be considered middle class is much different in New Jersey as it is in other places, according to a recent study.

“Middle class” is an inherently nebulous definition. The Pew Research Center defines people in the middle class as those whose incomes are between two-thirds and double the national median household income. Overall, nearly 20 percent of Americans have upper-class incomes, 28 percent have lower-class incomes and the vast majority fall into the middle class.

Because cost of living and average incomes vary so widely from state to state, the income needed to be “middle class” also greatly varies. Using Pew’s definition of the middle class, online banking company GOBanking.com analyzed the most recent American Community Survey data to determine middle-class income for every state in 2025.

In New Jersey, where the median household income is $97,126, middle-class incomes range from $64,750 to $194,252. This is a higher amount than any of the Garden State's neighbors: New York's median household income is $81,386, Pennsylvania's is $73,170, and Delaware's is $79,325, according to GOBanking.

Only Maryland ($98,461) had a higher barrier to entry for the middle class, the study found.

The Pew Research Center’s middle-class income calculator shows differences by metro area and by race or ethnicity, age, gender.

It shows that 48.2 percent of New York-Newark-Jersey City residents have middle-class incomes of around $97,126, compared to 52 percent of U.S. residents and 51.7 percent of people in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro.