60% of Americans Now Call Themselves ‘Working Class’

A term meant to describe a specific slice of American workers now applies, in people’s own minds, to a solid majority of the entire country. A new Pew Research Center survey found 60 percent of U.S. adults say “working class” describes them extremely or very well, up from 54 percent just two years earlier in 2024. The label has grown broader even as the country’s actual income distribution has not changed nearly as fast.

Half of College Grads and Upper-Income Adults Claim the Label Too

The identification cuts across income and education lines far more than the term’s traditional definition might suggest. Sixty-six percent of adults without a bachelor’s degree call themselves working class, but so do 50 percent of college graduates. Sixty-seven percent of middle-income Americans identify with the term, alongside 57 percent of lower-income adults and, notably, 50 percent of upper-income adults as well.

Nobody Actually Agrees on What “Working Class” Even Means

Part of what makes this number so broad is that “working class” genuinely means different things to different people. Pew notes the term gets applied inconsistently to describe adults without a college degree, people below a certain income level, workers in blue-collar or manual labor occupations, or simply anyone who earns a living primarily through work, regardless of income, education, or job type.

Republicans Claim the Label at a Notably Higher Rate Than Democrats

Political party affiliation shapes this self-identification more strongly than almost any other factor Pew measured in its analysis. Sixty-seven percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say working class describes them well, compared to 55 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners. That 12-point gap persisted even after Pew’s analysis accounted for respondents’ income, occupation, education, and other economic factors.

The Partisan Gap Nearly Doubles Once Income Rises

The partisan gap widens dramatically once income rises into the upper brackets. Among upper-income adults specifically, 61 percent of Republicans identify as working class compared to just 38 percent of Democrats, a 23-point divide. Upper-income Republicans, notably, identify as working class at nearly the same rate as lower-income Republicans, while upper-income Democrats identify at far lower rates than less affluent Democrats.

Even Financially Comfortable Republicans Still Claim the Label

Financial comfort tells a similar story to income. Among Americans who report few financial stresses, meaning they pay bills in full and hold months of emergency savings, 60 percent of Republicans still call themselves working class, compared to just 39 percent of similarly comfortable Democrats. Even the most financially secure Republicans, in other words, remain far more likely to embrace the label than equally secure Democrats.

Pew’s Own Researcher Points Directly to Partisanship as the Driver

Steven Shepard, Pew’s associate director of political research and a co-author of the report, pointed directly to partisanship as a driving factor behind these gaps. He noted that Republicans are generally more inclined to use the working class label than Democrats, a pattern that shows up most sharply among higher-income voters where economic circumstances alone would not predict such a divide.

Race Shapes the Numbers, and So Does the Education Gap Within Race

Race and ethnicity shape working-class identification too, alongside partisanship. Overall, 62 percent of White adults, 59 percent of Hispanic adults, 54 percent of Black adults, and 52 percent of Asian adults describe themselves as working class. Interestingly, the education gap in this identification is wide among White and Asian Americans but far smaller among Hispanic and Black Americans, where degree holders identify with the term nearly as often as non-degree holders.

Even Blue-Collar Workers Split Along Party Lines on This Label

Occupation predicts working-class identity less cleanly than many might expect. Seventy-seven percent of blue-collar workers call themselves working class, but so do 61 percent of workers in other fields entirely. The partisan gap persists within occupation groups too: 82 percent of Republicans in blue-collar jobs identify as working class, compared to 72 percent of Democrats doing the same type of work.

Both Parties Are Racing to Claim This Label Before November

This survey lands as both major parties head toward November’s midterm elections actively competing to claim the working-class label for themselves. Pew’s data, drawn from 8,512 adults surveyed in late January through its American Trends Panel, suggests the term has become less a precise economic category and more a flexible identity that Americans across nearly every income bracket feel entitled to claim.