Over the course of this young century, the gap in American cities between the haves and have-nots has continues to widen, reports Business Insider. The Pew Research Center recently analyzed Census Bureau data, looking at the state of the middle class in America's metropolitan areas. The results show a troubling schism between the wealthy and the poor, as the middle class in America has shrunk in almost every US city.
The decline in the middle class, says the Pew Center, could lead to dire consequences for American society. The drop in middle households has also coincided with an overall decline in incomes. The widening wealth gap helps explain the rise of insurgent candidacies like that of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders.
Pew defined "middle-income" households as those whose income fell between two-thirds and twice the national median household income.