Who Sees Themselves as Working Class?

Six-in-ten U.S. adults describe themselves as working class, up from 54% two years ago, according to the Pew Research Center. People across income groups and education levels adopt this identity, but partisanship is an especially strong factor. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to describe themselves as working class, even after taking economics, occupation and other traits into account.

Working-class identification also differs by race and ethnicity, Pew found. In particular, white adults are more likely than black adults to identify as working class. About six-in-ten white (62%) and Hispanic adults (59%) overall view themselves as working class, as do roughly half of black (54%) and Asian adults (52%).

Additionally, Americans without a college degree and those who are middle income are most likely to identify as working class. But large shares of higher-income and more-educated adults also said they are part of the working class:

• 66% of adults without bachelor’s degrees said “working class” describes them extremely or very well, but half of those with degrees said this, too.
• 67% of middle-income Americans said “working class” describes them well, but so do plenty of lower- (57%) and upper-income adults (50%).

Among blue-collar workers, 43% said they feel extremely or very satisfied with their jobs; by comparison, 53% of other workers express this level of satisfaction. And 15% of blue-collar workers are not too or not at all satisfied, compared with 10% of other workers.

However, slightly more than half of blue-collar workers ages 50 and older (56%) said they’re extremely or very satisfied with their jobs—considerably higher than the share among younger blue-collar workers. In particular, 32% of older blue-collar workers are extremely or very satisfied with their pay, while younger blue-collar workers are less likely to feel this way.