Massachusetts income gap one of largest in country, new census data shows
BOSTON – It's getting harder to stay in the middle class, especially if you live in Massachusetts. Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data finds a growing income gap that makes it difficult for many families to make ends meet.
What defines "middle class?"
According to the new census information, the income gap in Massachusetts is one of the largest in the country.
The 2023 findings show the median household annual income nationwide is $80,000. In Massachusetts, the median is well over that at $106,000.
The report defines "middle class" based on that number and determined a household income between $71,000 and $213,000 to be "middle class" in Massachusetts.
Jay Zagorsky is an economics professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business.
"There are clearly people in Massachusetts who are struggling, who aren't making very large figures. But there are people who are doing quite well," Zagorsky said.
Massachusetts income gap
Zagorsky said that while not all of the results are bad news, they show a glaring income gap.
The data shows about 20% of households report incomes over $200,000. But 27% report earning less than $50,000 per year.
"Unfortunately, that does not surprise me," said Mark Martinez, an affordable housing attorney at the Mass. Law Reform Institute.
Martinez said that growing gap suggests more families are falling out of the middle class.
Martinez works directly with families struggling to keep their head above water.
"They overcrowd, they are in apartments that are way too small, they are in apartments sharing with families, they're in unsafe, unhealthy apartments, and they paying their rent and praying to god a medical bill doesn't pop up, that someone doesn't get sick and have to take a day off from work that a car doesn't break down," Martinez said.
Martinez said most of low-income households in Massachusetts spend more than 50% of their income on rent. He advocates for rent control and new affordable housing projects, steps he says would help close that income gap.
