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People in Household

Maximum Monthly Allotment

1 | $192
2 | $353
3 | $505
4 | $642
5 | $762
6 | $914
7 | $1,011
8 | $1,155
Each additional person | $144

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To get SNAP benefits, you must apply in the State in which you currently live and you must meet certain requirements, including resource and income limits, which are described on this page. SNAP income and resource limits are updated annually. The information on this page is for October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019.

There are special SNAP rules for households with elderly or disabled members.

Frequently Asked Questions

Your household must meet certain requirements to be eligible for SNAP and receive benefits. If your State agency determines that you are eligible to receive SNAP benefits, you will receive benefits back to the date you submitted your application.

To see if you might be eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, visit our pre-screening tool.
Note: The FNS SNAP pre-screening eligibility tool is an interactive site with general information about eligibility requirements and how benefits are determined. Sharing your information in that form does not mean you filed an application for benefits. You will still need to submit an application through your State SNAP agency or local SNAP office.
You must apply for SNAP in the State where you currently live. Because each State has a different application form and process, a member of your household must contact your State agency directly to apply.

You can contact your State agency by visiting your local SNAP office, visiting your State agency's website, or calling your State's toll-free SNAP Information hotline. Some States have online applications that can be completed from the State agency website.

If you are unable to go to your local SNAP office or do not have access to the internet, you may have another person act as an authorized representative by applying and being interviewed on your behalf. You must designate the authorized representative in writing.
Note: Please contact your SNAP State agency directly to apply and to request information about the status of your application. FNS does not process applications or have access to case information.
In most cases, once you submit your application, your State agency or local SNAP office will process it and send you a notice telling you whether or not you are eligible for benefits within 30 days.

During the 30 days, you will need to complete an eligibility interview and give proof (verification) of the information you provided. The interview is typically completed over the telephone or in-person. If you are found eligible, you will receive benefits based on the date you submitted your application.

You may be eligible to receive SNAP benefits within 7 days of your application date if you meet additional requirements. For example, if your household has less than $100 in liquid resources and $150 in monthly gross income, or if your household's combined monthly gross income and liquid resources are less than what you pay each month for rent or mortgage and utilities expenses. Contact your State agency for additional details.

If you are found eligible, you will receive SNAP benefits on an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card, which works like a debit card. Benefits are automatically loaded into your account each month. You can use your EBT card to buy groceries at authorized food stores and retailers.

If you are found eligible, you will receive a notice that tells you how long you will receive SNAP benefits for; this is called your certification period. Before your certification period ends, you will receive another notice that says you must recertify to continue receiving benefits. Your local SNAP office will provide you with information about how to recertify.

Everyone who lives together and purchases and prepares meals together is grouped together as one SNAP household.

Some people who live together, such as spouses and most children under age 22, are included in the same SNAP household, even if they purchase and prepare meals separately.

If a person is 60 years of age or older and unable to purchase and prepare meals separately because of a permanent disability, the person and the person's spouse may be a separate SNAP household if the others they live with do not have very much income (no more than 165 percent of the poverty level).

Normally you are not eligible for SNAP benefits if an institution gives you most of your meals. There are exceptions for elderly persons and disabled persons.

Households may have $2,250 in countable resources (such as cash or money in a bank account) or $3,500 in countable resources if at least one member of the household is age 60 or older, or is disabled.

However, certain resources are NOT counted when determining eligibility for SNAP:

A home and lot;

Resources of people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI);

Resources of people who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF; also known as welfare); and

Most retirement and pension plans (withdrawals from these accounts may count as either income or resources depending on how often they occur).

Vehicles count as a resource for SNAP purposes. States determine how vehicles may count toward household resources.

Licensed vehicles are NOT counted if they are:

Used for income-producing purposes (e.g., taxi, truck or delivery vehicle);

Annually producing income consistent with their fair market value;

Needed for long distance travel for work (other than daily commute);

Used as the home;

Needed to transport a physically disabled household member;

Needed to carry most of the household's fuel or water; or

If the sale of the vehicle would result in less than $1500.

For non-excluded licensed vehicles, the fair market value over $4,650 counts as a resource.

Licensed vehicles are also subject to an equity test, which is the fair market value less any amount owed on the vehicle. The following vehicles are excluded from the equity test:

One vehicle per adult household member; and

Any other vehicle used by a household member under 18 to drive to work, school, job training, or to look for work.

For vehicles with both a fair market value over $4,650 and an equity value, the greater of the two amounts is counted as a resource.

Additionally, the equity value of unlicensed vehicles generally counts as a resource, with some exceptions.

In most cases, your household must meet both the gross and net income limits described below or you are not eligible for SNAP and cannot receive benefits.

Gross income means a household's total, non-excluded income, before any deductions have been made.

Net income means gross income minus allowable deductions.

A household with an elderly or disabled person only has to meet the net income limit, as described on the elderly and disabled page.

If all members of your household are receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or in some places other general assistance, your household may be deemed "categorically eligible" for SNAP because you have already been determined eligible for another means-tested program.

The information provided in the table below applies to households in the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia that apply for SNAP between October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019.

Table 1: SNAP Income Eligibility Limits - October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019

* SNAP gross and net income limits are higher in Alaska and Hawaii.

The following deductions are allowed for SNAP:

A 20-percent deduction from earned income.

A standard deduction of $164 for household sizes of 1 to 3 people and $174 for a household size of 4 (higher for some larger households and for households in Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam).

A dependent care deduction when needed for work, training, or education.

Medical expenses for elderly or disabled members that are more than $35 for the month if they are not paid by insurance or someone else. This is described on the elderly and disabled page.

In some States, legally owed child support payments.

In some States, a standard shelter deduction for homeless households of $143.

Excess shelter costs as described below.

The shelter deduction is for shelter costs that are more than half of the household's income after other deductions.

Allowable shelter costs include:

Fuel to heat and cook with.

Electricity.

Water.

The basic fee for one telephone.

Rent or mortgage payments and interest.

Taxes on the home.

Some States allow a set amount for utility costs instead of actual costs.

The amount of the shelter deduction is capped at (or limited to) $552 unless one person in the household is elderly or disabled. The limit is higher in Alaska, Hawaii, and Guam. For a household with an elderly or disabled member all shelter costs over half of the household's income may be deducted.

Table 2: How to Calculate SNAP Gross Income

Table 3: How to Calculate SNAP Net Income

Subtract 20% earned income deduction . . .

$2,050 gross income

$1,500 earned income x 20% = $300. $2,050 - $300 = $1,750

Excess shelter deduction . . .

The total amount of SNAP benefits your household gets each month is called an allotment.

Because SNAP households are expected to spend about 30 percent of their own resources on food, your allotment is calculated by multiplying your household's net monthly income by 0.3, and subtracting the result from the maximum monthly allotment for your household size.

Table 4: SNAP Maximum Monthly Allotment Based on Household Size

Note: The allotments described here are for households in the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia. The allotments are different in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Table 5: Example of SNAP Benefit Calculation

Subtract 30% of net income from the maximum allotment for the household size...

$642 maximum allotment for 4-person household - $338 (30% of net income) = $304, SNAP Allotment for a full month

In general, people must meet work requirements to be eligible for SNAP. These work requirements include:

Registering for work;

Not voluntarily quitting a job or reducing hours;

Taking a job if offered; and

Participating in employment and training programs, if assigned by the State.

Failure to comply with these requirements can result in disqualification from the Program.

In addition, able bodied adults without dependents are required to work or participate in a work program for at least 20 hours per week in order to receive SNAP benefits for more than 3 months in a 36-month period.

Some special groups may not be subject to these requirements including:

Children;

Seniors;

Pregnant women; and

People who are exempt for physical or mental health reasons.

SNAP eligibility has never been extended to undocumented non-citizens. Specific requirements for non-citizens who may be eligible have changed substantially over the years and become more complicated in certain areas. The Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 limits eligibility for SNAP benefits to U.S. citizens and certain lawfully present non-citizens.

Generally, to qualify for SNAP, non-citizens must meet one of the following criteria:

Have lived in the United States for at least 5 years.

Be receiving disability-related assistance or benefits.

Be children under 18.

Additionally, these individuals must also satisfy other SNAP eligibility requirements such as income and resource limits in order to qualify for benefits.

If certain members of a household are ineligible for SNAP, State agencies must still determine eligibility for SNAP for any remaining household members who are seeking assistance.

For additional information see: SNAP Policy on Non-Citizen Eligibility and SNAP Guidance on Non-Citizen Eligibility.

If you disagree with a decision in your case, you may request a fair hearing with an official who is required by law to review the facts of your case in a fair and objective manner.

Note: You must request a fair hearing within 90 days of the day your local SNAP office made the decision in your case that you disagree with.

You can request a fair hearing over the phone, in writing, or in person at the local SNAP office.

Although a fair hearing cannot change the laws or regulations governing SNAP, it can ensure that decisions on your case have been made correctly.

SNAP benefits are available to all eligible households regardless of race, sex, religious creed, national origin, or political beliefs.

The USDA prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital and family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326- W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

For additional information about SNAP in your State, to file an application for SNAP benefits, or to get information about your SNAP case, you must contact your local SNAP office. Where Can I Get My State Information?

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Am I Eligible for SNAP? | Food and Nutrition Service

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To get SNAP benefits, you must apply in the State in which you currently live and you must meet certain requirements, including resource and income limits, which are described on this page. SNAP income and resource limits are updated annually.

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MTO and the un-failed program (Raj Chetty)

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MTO and the un-failed program (Raj Chetty)

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Neighborhoods remain the crucible of social life, even in the internet age. Children do not stream lectures - they go to school. They play together in parks and homes, not over Skype. Crime and fear of crime are experienced locally, as is the police response to it.

But wide income gaps and America's legacy of racial segregation result in wide differences between neighborhoods on a range of measures. Two major new studies from Harvard economists Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren show that neighborhoods matter not only for daily life, but for the life chances of the children raised there.

Drawing on a unique data set based on the tax records of 44 million households, the first study shows that locality matters a great deal for the future income of children. The second study of roughly 13,000 children is smaller but packs a big policy punch, since it directly contradicts recent evaluations of a major policy initiative - Moving to Opportunity (MTO) - carried out by leading social scientists.

In short: MTO seems to work, after all.
MTO, Act I: Ideals
MTO was started in 1994 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In a handful of large cities, a few thousand public-housing residents were randomly assigned to one of three programs:

1. An experimental group that received a rental subsidy (voucher) but had to move to a low-poverty neighborhood for at least one year

2. A Section-8 group that received a voucher but no restriction on movement

3. A control group that received no voucher.

Economists love random assignment, because it helps overcome one of the biggest problems in social science: isolating causation from correlation. It's like a social science pharmaceutical trial. Around half the experimental group "took their medicine" and moved to less poor areas; that is, the proportion living in neighborhood poverty fell by roughly half, from 40 percent to 20 percent. There were limits, however: the voucher didn't allow them to buy their way into affluent neighborhoods with great schools, so much as somewhat less poor neighborhoods with schools that were slightly better.

Teams of economists and other social scientists published analyses of MTO data in leading academic journals (see the table at the end of the piece).
MTO, Act II: Disappointment
These studies were disappointing, especially for those, like myself, who believe that harmful neighborhood qualities have impeded the social progress of the poor. The key findings were that:

1. Neighborhood poverty has no effect on adult earnings or employment.

2. Neighborhood poverty has no consistent positive effects on the behavior of children or their academic performance.

3. Neighborhood poverty improves some aspects of adult mental and physical health.

MTO Act III: Reflection
These findings, especially the second, contradicted a large body of social science theory and non-experimental evidence, mostly from sociologists, like William Julius Wilson and Douglas Massey. They and other sociologists suggested that the limitations of the study explained the absence of observable effects. In a very recent example, Massey and I found that neighborhood income during childhood strongly predicts adult incomes. Our evidence suggested a causal effect, too, since neighborhood income even explained differences in sibling incomes.

Less noticed, the first wave of MTO findings also contradicted a powerful body of experimental evidence from school lottery and voucher programs. These studies had consistently found that attending better schools-measured in various ways-boosted the academic performance ( and eventual earnings) of children, especially those from poor families.
MTO Act IV: Vindication
With their new study, Chetty and Hendren (along with Lawrence Katz, an author of many of the previous studies) provide very strong evidence for the positive impact of MTO. Specifically, moving to a less poor neighborhood in childhood (i.e., before the age of 13):

1. Increased future annual income by the mid-twenties by roughly $3,500 (31%)

2. Boosted marriage rates (by 2 percentage points)

3. Raised both college attendance rates (by 2.5 percentage points) and quality of college attended

The age of the child moved was a critical factor: moving to a less poor neighborhood in the teenage years had no significant impact on later earnings or other adult outcomes.
Lessons from MTO evaluation
There was nothing wrong with the earlier round of MTO evaluations in themselves: the main problem was that the positive effects of leaving poor neighborhoods as a child could not be observed until the children were old enough to finish college and enter the adult labor market. In measuring adult outcomes, scholars of MTO thought creatively about capturing alternative outcomes, like mental health, that had not previously been studied in this context.

Still, some of the scholars who conducted earlier studies were too quick to write off MTO specifically and, more importantly, neighborhood effects more generally. As Chetty and his colleagues show, even a few extra years of data can make all the difference. Now we can be even more confident that when it comes to equality and opportunity, place matters.

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Sociology's revenge: Moving to Opportunity (MTO) revisited

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A recent study from economists Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren show that neighborhoods matter -- disputing the null results of past studies of the Moving to Opportunity program and backing up decades of research from sociologists on the importance of place. Jonathan Rothwell discusses their findings and how it squares with past research on the topic.

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Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality

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Current Trends in Social Mobility: Raj Chetty

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Who are the richest people in the world and how did they amass their fortunes? Read on to find out.

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1%

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Richest 1% own half the world's wealth, study finds

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Credit Suisse report highlights increasing gap between the super-rich and the remainder of the globe's population

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When FRONTLINE viewers last saw Roger Smith in the documentary Poor Kids the 19-year-old had graduated from high school and was working various jobs to help the family make ends meet . He was living at home in East Moline, Illinois, where he spent hours playing with his little brother, Zak kary , who had been diagnosed with autism.

"I love that little guy, he's so awesome," Smith said. "He's helped pull the family together and definitely takes a lot of stress out of the day."

In the months since the documentary aired, Smith ha d gotten his driver's license , which he was especially excited about since it meant he wouldn't have to rely on others to driv e him to work. The family was still struggling, bu t Smith enjoyed working, especially with his dad.

On Sunday , Smith was killed when his truck skidded on a frozen overpass and struck a tree, according to local news reports . He was driving with his girlfriend, who survived the crash.

"He was a wonderful son, an awesome person with a heart of go ld. He was the best big brother and friend to all," his mother, Christy Smith, said in a message to FRONTLINE filmmaker Jezza Neumann. "He always put everyone first, even the moment he died. He shielded his girlfriend with his body to protect her, making him take the whole impact, causing his death. He will truly be missed, and we will never be able to dull this horrible pain and emptiness."

When Neumann first filmed the Smith family, Smith's father , Josh, had been laid off and was trying to find a new job to support the family . They had been kicked out of their farmhouse and were living paycheck to paycheck.

Reflecting on what it mean t to grow up poor in America, Smith told Neumann how surprised he was to learn " how things can change so fast."

"You can go from doing OK, not having to go hungry, to this, going hungry and having to pay all your bills and not being able to, on the verge of being hom eless again," he said.

At the time, Smith was just 14. He said he especially missed having access to the internet and playing the game "World of Warcraft."

"I n ' World of Warcraft, ' I am awesome. I'm a level 85 paladin, tank and healer," he said . "And in real life, I'm a 14-year-old boy with nothing going for him."

In an interview, Neumann said he'll never forget the time he spent filming and getting to know Smith.

"I think Roger was just one of those guys who didn't say a lot until you spent some time one-on-one with him, and once he got to know you, then he'd really open up," Neumann said.

W hen Neumann returned to Smith 's home for an update to the film , he says he was blown away by how tall the 19-year-old had become, and how much he resembled his father.

"The thing that stood out to me from seeing him last time was how much he had grown to be this very caring man with a good work ethic and who didn't ask for much," Neuman said. "He had good manners, he cared about his girlfriend, he cared about his family ... he was a really decent guy who just got on with his life and tried to make the best of it."

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Remembering Roger Smith from "Poor Kids"

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When FRONTLINE viewers last saw Roger Smith in the documentary Poor Kids the 19-year-old had graduated from high school and was working various jobs to help the family make ends meet . He was living at home in East Moline, Illinois, where he spent hours playing with his little brother, Zak kary , who had been diagnosed with autism.

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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XTZE6-DZfV8qKcodfL5q3TwZapzmxCrZgf-GgrKJVxE/edit?usp=sharing

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$110 for the first person

$36 for the second person

$24 for each additional person

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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) The TANF Program provides benefits for families with needy children under age 18. The TANF Program is designed to help needy families achieve self-sufficiency through employment and training activities provided by the TANF Work Program (TWP).

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Living Wage Calculator - Living Wage Calculation for Harrison County, Mississippi

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The living wage shown is the hourly rate that an individual must earn to support their family, if they are the sole provider and are working full-time (2080 hours per year). All values are per adult in a family unless otherwise noted.

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includes second job

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Weber's treatment of class and status indicates the manner in which the material basis of society is related to the ideological. Social conflict can result from one or the other, or both. Social action is motivated by both, though in some cases more one than the other.

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Drug testing costs more than it saves 2017 10 Mississippians tested positive for drugs that were seeking TANF Benefits at a cost of millions of dollars

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Drug testing costs more than it saves 2017 10 Mississippians tested positive for drugs that were seeking TANF Benefits at a cost of millions of dollars

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http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/2017/04/21/mdhs-confirms-most-new-applicants-rejected-welfare/100724154/

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Congressman Tokano's Report on Poverty focusing on Riverside, CA

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Congressman Tokano's Report on Poverty focusing on Riverside, CA

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Why Being Poor Never Adds Up | U.S. Congressman Mark Takano of California's 41st District

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The Official U.S. House website of Congressman Mark Takano of California District 41

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Short 30 min animation on American Dream

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Short 30 min animation on American Dream

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American Dream

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The American Dream By The Provocateur Network

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A simple animated explanation of HOW the private Federal Reserve steals your money and WHY it must be stopped Subtitles now available; -Greek -English -Spanish -Portugese(brazil) -Czech -Hungarian -Romanian -Bulgarian -Finnish The AMERICAN DREAM is a 30 minute animated film that shows you how you've been scammed by the most basic elements of our government system.

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Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project

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13% of people globally are middle income

People living on $10.01-20 daily are classified as middle income

The income groups are defined as follows: The poor live on $2 or less daily, low income on $2.01-10, middle income on $10.01-20, upper-middle income on $20.01-50, and high income on more than $50; figures expressed in 2011 purchasing power parities in 2011 prices.

Report: A Global Middle Class is More Promise than Reality

Source: Pew Research Center analysis of data from the World Bank PovcalNet database (Center for Global Development version available on the Harvard Dataverse Network) and the Luxembourg Income Study database

Updated August 13, 2015: This new edition includes corrected estimates for Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Taiwan, and some related aggregated data.

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The income groups are defined as follows: The poor live on $2 or less daily, low income on $2.01-10, middle income on $10.01-20, upper-middle income on $20.01-50, and high income on more than $50; figures expressed in 2011 purchasing power parities in 2011 prices.

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Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project

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To test how much you know about economic attitudes in the world, we invite you to take our short 10-question quiz. Then see how you did and browse our new 39-country economic attitudes report to learn more about how people around the world view their national and personal economic situations, as well as their opinions on future economic conditions, inequality, unemployment, rising prices, and debt.

The quiz is based on key findings from the Spring 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, conducted in 39 publics among 37,653 respondents from March 2 to May 1. The countries surveyed are Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United States, and Venezuela, as well as the Palestinian territories.
Take the Quiz!
Read the report: Economies of Emerging Markets Better Rated During Difficult Times
(No peeking! If you are going to take the quiz, do it first before reading the analysis.)

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To test how much you know about economic attitudes in the world, we invite you to take our short 10-question quiz. Then see how you did and browse our new 39-country economic attitudes report to learn more about how people around the world view their national and personal economic situations, as well as their opinions on future economic conditions, inequality, unemployment, rising prices, and debt.

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What Americans say it takes to be middle class

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What Americans say it takes to be middle class

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What does it take to be considered part of the middle class these days? The vast majority of American adults agree that a secure job and the ability to save money for the future are essential. The public is more evenly split when it comes to owning a home and having the time and money to travel for vacation. But one thing is now less likely to be seen as a requirement: a college education.

While the economic gap between college graduates and those with a high school education or less has never been greater, the share of adults saying a college education is necessary to be middle class has actually fallen since 2012, from 37% to 30%, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted Dec. 8-13, 2015.

There is a wide gap between men and women on this measure. About a third of women (35%) say that a college education is needed to be in the middle class, but only 26% of men say the same. Millennial women outpace Millennial men in educational attainment, and indeed the gap in opinion is wider between women and men who are ages 18 to 49 than among those ages 50 and older.

There is virtually no difference by age or education level in views about whether a college education is necessary to be middle class. This reflects a sharp drop since 2012 in the shares of the youngest and least educated adults who said a college education was necessary. In 2012, 43% of 18- to 29-year-olds and 41% of those without a college degree said a college education was necessary to be middle class; today roughly three-in-ten of both groups do.

The value individuals place on a college degree differs significantly by income. Among those with an annual household income of less than $30,000, 40% say a college degree is necessary to be in the middle class, compared with 26% of those who make $30,000 to $74,999 and 22% of those who make $75,000 or more. This has changed little since 2012.

A college education's perceived importance in being part of the middle class also differs by what social class people feel they are part of now. Those who consider themselves part of the lower and lower-middle classes are more likely than those in the middle or upper-middle/upper classes to say a college education is key to being middle class.

Democrats are twice as likely as Republicans to say a college education is necessary to be in the middle class (40% vs. 20%), a gap that has stayed consistent since 2012, when 42% of Democrats and 27% of Republicans said the same.

Overall, Hispanics were more likely than non-Hispanic whites to consider factors we asked about to be necessities for being part of the middle class. For example, about six-in-ten Hispanics (57%) say that owning a home is necessary, compared with 38% of whites. Blacks fall between these two groups on most measures. The one exception is having a secure job - 89% of both whites and Hispanics and 85% of blacks see it as necessary.

Some regional differences exist. For example, 61% of American adults who live in the Midwest say that having the time and money to travel for vacation is a requirement to be in the middle class, while half or fewer of those who live in other parts of the country say the same. Those in the West are more likely than those in the Northeast or Midwest to say owning a home is a necessity. And those who live in the Northeast put more of an emphasis on a college education than those in the South or Midwest.

The concept of a "middle class" can be measured in different ways. For example, when looking at economic measurements, we often group people by household income, defining the middle class as households with an income that is between 67% and 200% of the overall median household income, adjusted for household size. For our surveys, however, we ask respondents which of the commonly used names for the social classes - upper, upper-middle, middle, lower-middle or lower - they would say they belong in.

Topics: Educational Attainment, College, Middle Class, Socioeconomic Class, Education, Economics and Personal Finances

Anna Brown is a research analyst focusing on social and demographic trends at Pew Research Center.

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What Americans say it takes to be middle class

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What does it take to be considered part of the middle class these days? The vast majority of American adults agree that a secure job and the ability to save money for the future are essential. The public is more evenly split when it comes to owning a home and having the time and money to travel for vacation.

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Watch FRONTLINE's documentary which explores what poverty means to children in America, told through the stories of three families over half a decade.

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http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/16/are-you-in-the-global-middle-class-find-out-with-our-income-calculator/