More American families are climbing into higher income brackets, The Wall Street Journal reports. About 31% of Americans qualified as upper middle class in 2024, a jump from just 10% in 1979, according to the American Enterprise Institute. Pew Research found similar trends; "Everybody is doing better, but the upper income households are especially," says one Pew researcher. Wage growth has driven the ascent, per the Journal. However, families in this bracket say costs for housing and higher education still leave them feeling financially squeezed. READ MORE