America’s most middle-class city revealed – and it’s a state capital that boasts breathtaking mountain views

The American middle class is shrinking. According to analysts, the number of Americans considered middle class has fallen by as much as 10 percent since the 1970s.

One city that is doing relatively well, however, is Olympia, the capital of Washington State. The city has a population of 55,605 and, according to a survey, tops a list of America’s most middle-class cities. analysis by the Pew Research Center.

It’s no surprise that the Pacific Northwest city tops the list of 254 U.S. metro areas as it offers luxurious landscapes with breathtaking views of Mt. Rainer, the Olympic Mountain Range and borders the awe-inspiring Capitol Lake.

The city offers luxurious landscapes with breathtaking views of Mount Rainer

Pew’s analysis defined a middle-class adult as someone living in a household with an annual income of two-thirds, which is double the national median household income, which was about $75,000 at the time of the survey.

Household size and cost of living were key factors in determining what qualified as middle class.

A person living alone generally needs a lower income than a larger family to support the same lifestyle. Likewise, a household in an area of ​​the country with a lower cost of living would need less income than a household in a more expensive area.

Using income data from the 2020 Census, Pew classified residents in each metropolitan area into an income level: low, middle or high.

Olympia was the only metro area in the Western US to earn a spot in the coveted top 10, along with others in the upper Midwest and a few on the East Coast.

Olympia was the only metropolis in the western US to land a spot in the coveted top 10 (photo: Olympia on a summer evening, looking across downtown towards the capital)

But at the other end of the spectrum is San Jose, California, where nearly half of the population is upper-income at 41 percent – ​​equivalent to the number of people living in a middle-class home.

In the middle was Seattle, another city in Washington state, with 51 percent of adults living in middle-class households. Twenty-one percent of adults in the Seattle area were in the low-income bracket, and 28 percent were in the high-income bracket.

Ranking for the highest population of lower-income residents was Laredo, Texas, with 46 percent of residents in the bottom bracket. The highest shares of lower-income adults were found mainly in the southern US.

The places with the highest shares of middle-class adults were all, like Olympia, small to medium-sized metro areas in the northern half of the US.

In San Jose, California (photo), approximately 41 percent of the population falls into the upper income bracket

The marker for the highest population of lower-income residents was Laredo, Texas (pictured), with a shocking 46 percent of residents falling into this category

Olympia was one of three state capital regions to make the top 10, with the others being Dover, Delaware and Bismarck, North Dakota.

Other cities rounding out the top 10 are Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Janesville-Beloit, Wisconsin; Oshkosh-Neenah, Wisconsin; Lima, Ohio; Glens Falls, New York; Jackson, Missouri and St. Joseph, Missouri.

A report published earlier this year found that 52 percent of Americans live in a middle-class household, with 30 percent in a low-income household and 19 percent in a high-income household.

The same report found that the top metro areas for high-income residents were more densely populated areas, including Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Washington, D.C.

They were also mostly coastal metros, with the exception of Austin.