An annual household income of $175,000 may sound like a lot of money, but in Colorado it just makes you part of the middle class.
During the past decade, the household income needed to be considered part of the middle class has increased substantially, according to a May report from the personal finance resources publication GOBankingRates.
Using 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data, GOBankingRates’ report — which defines middle class as a household income between two-thirds of the median income and double the median income — found that in 2012, a household income between $35,364 and $106,092 qualified you as a member of the U.S. middle class.
Ten years later in 2022, you’d have to have made at least $50,099 to hit the lowest minimum household income to be middle class in the United States.
Overall, the household income required to be middle class in the U.S. increased by 41.67% from 2012 to 2022. In Colorado, that increase was even sharper.
What is middle class in Colorado?
The amount of money a Colorado household needs to make each year to be considered part of the middle class increased by 50.4% in the past decade — the third-highest increase of any U.S. state, according to the report.
In 2012, a household income between $38,829 and $116,488 made you part of Colorado's middle class. In 2022, an income between $58,399 and $175,196 was considered middle class in the Centennial State.
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How does Colorado compare to other states?
Colorado’s more than 50% increase was higher than most other states, and in some cases significantly so.
Only three states saw a 10-year increase above 50%, according to the report, and the only two states with a sharper increase than Colorado were Oregon and Washington, which saw increases of 53.15% and 52.13% respectively.
More than half of U.S. states saw increases below 40%, according to the report.
The household income needed to be middle class in Alaska increased the least over the 10-year period, growing by just 23.53% from 2012 to 2022.
Mississippi had the lowest minimum household income needed to be middle class at $35,323; Maryland had the highest, as residents needed an income of at least $64,641 to qualify as middle class.
How many Pueblo households are part of the Colorado middle class?
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey show that of an estimated 67,840 households in Pueblo County, the median household income was $58,723 and more than half of households had an income between $50,000 and $200,000.
Census data does not specifically break down how many Pueblo households made between $58,399 and $175,196 to be considered part of Colorado's middle class, but 43.4% of households reported an income below $49,999, while 56.6% reported an income of $50,000 or higher.
Less than 9% of Pueblo County households reported an income above $150,000, and only 4.2% reported a household income above $200,000.
Pueblo County has more residents in poverty than Colorado and the United States as a whole, as 14.8% of county residents were below the federal poverty level as of the 2022 Census compared to 9.4% for all people in Colorado and 12.6% for all people across the United States.
What would be considered middle class in Pueblo County?
Using GoBankingRates' definition of middle class, which is the same definition used by the Pew Research Center, Pueblo County's median household income of $58,723 would mean a household would have to earn an income between $39,109 and $117,446 to be considered part of the county's middle class.
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Chieftain Editor Zach Hillstrom can be reached at zhillstrom@gannett.com or on X, at @ZachHillstrom. Support local news, subscribe to the Pueblo Chieftain at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Here's how much money you need to make to be considered middle class in Colorado
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