“Working class” is one of the most frequently used labels in American economic and political debate, but new research suggests it describes a much broader group of people than the phrase traditionally implies — a distinction that matters in New York, where debates over affordability, taxes, housing and the cost of living regularly center on who is considered a working family.
A Pew Research Center analysis released Monday found 60% of U.S. adults say “working class” describes them extremely or very well. That includes not only people without college degrees and those working in traditionally blue-collar occupations, but significant shares of college graduates, upper-income households and Americans who report little financial stress.
The findings suggest that in New York and elsewhere, “working class” increasingly functions as an identity rather than a narrowly defined economic category.
That could complicate the way elected officials, advocates and others use the term when discussing policies intended to benefit working-class New Yorkers. Depending on who is speaking, the phrase could mean someone working in manufacturing or construction, a household earning a middle-class income, someone without a four-year college degree or simply a person who earns a living primarily through work.
Pew found all of those definitions capture only part of the population that considers itself working class.
Income doesn’t settle the question
Middle-income Americans were the most likely to identify with the term, with 67% saying “working class” described them well.
But income alone didn’t determine whether someone embraced the label.
About 57% of lower-income adults identified as working class, while half of upper-income Americans did the same.
The finding is particularly relevant to a state such as New York, where the same household income can translate into dramatically different economic circumstances depending on where someone lives. Housing, transportation and other costs can vary considerably between New York City, its suburbs and Upstate communities.
Pew’s research suggests people may be evaluating their class position based on more than their paycheck.
Even among Americans who reported being financially comfortable — consistently paying bills in full, maintaining several months of emergency savings and comfortably meeting their expenses — 50% still described themselves as working class.
That suggests the label can reflect how people see their relationship to work, economic security or society more broadly rather than simply how much money they earn.
A college degree doesn’t necessarily change the identity
Education has become another common shorthand for class in American politics, particularly as voting patterns have increasingly been analyzed around whether someone holds a four-year college degree.
Pew found a clear educational difference, but not a clean dividing line.
About 66% of Americans without bachelor’s degrees said working class described them well. Among people with bachelor’s degrees, the figure was still 50%.
That means millions of professionals and other degree-holding workers view themselves through the same class identity often associated with people who didn’t attend or complete college.
Occupation produced a similar result.
People working in blue-collar occupations were particularly likely to identify as working class, at 77%. But 61% of Americans working in other types of jobs also used the label.
For New York, that means a conversation about the “working class” potentially includes workers ranging from construction trades and manufacturing to health care, education, offices and other professional fields.
The term has become political, too
Pew also found that working-class identity can’t be explained entirely by income, education or occupation.
Political affiliation has become another significant predictor.
About 67% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they consider themselves working class, compared with 55% of Democrats and Democratic leaners.
The difference remained even when Pew accounted for economic circumstances, education, occupation and other characteristics.
Among Republicans without bachelor’s degrees, 72% identified as working class, compared with 61% of Democrats without degrees.
The divide was nearly identical among college graduates: 56% of Republican graduates identified with the term compared with 44% of Democratic graduates.
The difference became even larger among upper-income Americans.
Upper-income Republicans were about as likely as lower-income Republicans to describe themselves as working class, while upper-income Democrats were significantly less likely than lower- and middle-income Democrats to use the label.
Among financially comfortable Americans, 60% of Republicans called themselves working class, compared with 39% of Democrats.
That means references to “working-class voters” can carry both economic and political meaning — and the two don’t always describe the same group.
More Americans are adopting the label
The working-class identity has also become more common.
In 2024, Pew found 54% of Americans said the term described them well. That figure has risen to 60%.
The increase occurred across a range of demographic, economic and political groups rather than being concentrated among one type of worker.
Pew also found differences across racial and ethnic groups. About 62% of White adults and 59% of Hispanic adults identified as working class, compared with 54% of Black adults and 52% of Asian adults.
Education produced particularly different patterns within those groups.
Among White adults, 71% of those without bachelor’s degrees identified as working class compared with 48% of college graduates.
Among Black adults, however, college graduates were actually somewhat more likely to identify as working class than those without degrees — 58% compared with 53%.
Why the definition matters in New York
The research doesn’t provide a single definition of who belongs to the working class. In many ways, that’s the point.
When New York policymakers discuss tax relief for working families, housing affordability for working-class residents or economic programs intended to strengthen working-class communities, the audience hearing those terms may be substantially larger and more economically diverse than the language suggests.
A household can have a high income and still consider itself working class. A college graduate can identify that way. So can an office worker, someone with substantial savings or a person who doesn’t fit the traditional image of a blue-collar employee.
At the same time, someone experiencing significant financial strain doesn’t automatically adopt the label.
Pew’s findings suggest “working class” has evolved into a combination of economics, occupation, education, culture and political identity.
For New Yorkers hearing the term increasingly used in debates over affordability and the economy, that creates a basic question worth asking whenever someone promises to help the working class: Who, exactly, are they talking about?
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