Among American adults overall, including those from outside the 229 areas examined in depth, the share living in middle-income households fell from 55% in 2000 to 51% in 2014. Reflecting the accumulation of changes at the metropolitan level, the nationwide share of adults in lower-income households increased from 28% to 29% and the share in upper-income households rose from 17% to 20% during the period.In other words, net-net we are, as a people, better off than we were 14 years ago. The number of upper income households increased by 3% while the number of lower income households increased by 1%. Do you suppose any of those rising from middle to upper income are unhappy? Unlikely, isn't it?
Losing members of the middle class is not a terrible thing if those moving on have improved their economic lot in life, have actually moved up. However, a headline proclaiming one household in a hundred is doing less well than formerly would be a big ho-hum, nobody would care much. So ... a misleading headline to draw in clicks, readers.
