Pew Research Center analysis of the 2014 American Community Survey and the 2000 Decennial Census (IPUMS). These data include estimates for 229 metropolitan areas out of a total of 381 areas currently defined by the federal government. These 229 areas are the ones that are identifiable in publicly available Census Bureau datasets and for which data were available for both 2000 and 2014. They accounted for 76% of the nation’s population in 2014.
This data includes shares of adults in lower-, middle- and upper-income tiers in U.S. metropolitan areas, 2000 and 2014. Middle-income adults live in households with incomes two-thirds to double the national median size-adjusted household income, about $42,000 to $125,000 annually in 2014 for a three-person household. Lower-income households have incomes less than two-thirds of the median, and upper-income households have incomes that are more than double the median. Household incomes are adjusted for the cost of living in metropolitan areas.
This data was used as part of the Pew Research Center report [America’s Shrinking Middle Class: A Close Look at Changes Within Metropolitan Areas] (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/05/11/americas-shrinking-middle-class-a-close-look-at-changes-within-metropolitan-areas/) and [map] (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/interactives/middle-class-metro-map/)