What is the middle class?
Definition of French administration
The definition of the middle class varies significantly depending on the organization to which one relates. Indeed, there is no precise definition, although the concept is used very often. According to the website of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the middle class refers to the population located at the center of the social scale. It is used as an indicator to estimate the economic and social developments of a country.
Definition of the Observatory of Inequalities
For the Observatory of Inequalities (ODI), the middle class defines the populations which are located between the Poorest 30%, and richest 20%. It divides the French population into three classes: working class, middle and wealthy, based on income level and household composition.
What characteristics are taken into account to define the middle class?
Standard of living of French middle-class households
Several indicators are taken into account to define the middle class. Income alone is not enough to categorize individuals into the working, middle and wealthy classes.
Family composition
The composition of the family influences, for example, whether or not it belongs to the middle class. With the same level of income, we actually live much better alone than with a partner without income and one or more children.
What is the median income of the middle class in France in 2025?
Income of single people, single parents, couples, with or without children after taxes and social benefits
According to the Observatory of Inequalities, the income of the middle class, after taxes and social benefits, is comprised of:
- between 1,683 and 3,119 euros for a single person;
- between 2,188 and 4,055 euros for a single-parent family with a child under 14 years old;
- between 2,525 and 4,679 euros for couples without children;
- between 3,029 and 5,614 euros for couples with a child under 14;
- between 4,208 and 7,798 euros for a couple with two children over 14 years old.
- between 4,712 and 8,733 euros for a couple with three children, one under 14 years old.
Income scale according to population categories in France
What are the differences between the INSEE median standard of living in France and the ODI income scale according to household type?
THE INSEE median standard of living is a official statistical indicator : it divides the population in two (50% earn less, 50% earn more) and is used to measure poverty or inequalities, without defining social classes. Conversely, the middle class scale from the Observatory of Inequalities is a interpretative division : the ODI chooses to classify the population into “working class”, “average” and “well-off” according to standard of living thresholds.
INSEE describes reality, while ODI constructs a reading grid to help understand the social structure. According to the latest figures from INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies), published in October 2024, in 2022, the median standard of living in mainland France will rise to 24,330 euros annuallyor 2,028 euros per month.
What are the differences between belonging and feeling of belonging to the middle class?
There is a distinction between belonging and feeling middle class. According to an Ifop study published in 2019, the number of French people declaring they belong to this social category continues to decrease. Between 2008 and 2019, this proportion increased from 70 to 58%. The decline in the standard of living of the middle classes is changing the feeling of belonging to this category. Thus, some of the people questioned, 38%, compared to 23% in 2008, no longer position themselves within the middle class, but within the “modest” class.
What are the professions most represented in the middle class?
According to the Observatory of Inequalities, the middle classes include all intermediate professions (nurse, school teacher, accountant, etc.), half of the artisanstraders and business leaders, as well asa fifth of senior managersworkers and employees. The working classes bring together 80% of employees and workers and 30% of the self-employed (farmers, craftsmen, traders and business leaders). The upper classes make up the rest: 80% of senior executives and 20% of independents.
What is upper middle class?
The middle class includes a large number of individuals with disparate personal and professional situations. As a result, strong disparities exist between households. Some are located on the edge of the working classesothers at the limit of the wealthiest classes. For the latter, we then speak of upper middle class. This category displays the highest level of wealth. Some observers associate the upper middle class with the wealthiest 20% of households, although making a distinction with the richest 1%.
What income is considered rich in France?
Wealth threshold definition
If there is a definition of the poverty threshold, that of the wealth threshold is more vague. The Observatory of Inequalities sets the wealth threshold at double the median standard of living after taxes and social benefits.
Average income of wealthy people
According to the Observatory, the following would belong to the category of the rich:
- a single person winning more than 4,293 euros per month after deduction of tax;
- a childless couple winning more than 6,440 euros ;
- a couple with a child under 14 years old winning more than 7,727 euros.
Who is part of the working class and the wealthy class?
According to the ODI, the working class is mainly made up of unskilled workers, maintenance workers, employees and people in a situation of professional insecurity. The wealthy class brings together senior executives, business leaders with more than 500 employees, non-hospital salaried doctors, etc.
