The Upper Middle Class is surprisingly one of the faster-growing segments of the US population in the past 40 or more years, according to economic statistics, and a favorable economy springing from the years when Ronald Reagan was president is a contributing factor.
"People are asking themselves these days, Is a college degree worth it? I think it certainly is, because if you have a bachelor's degree you're more inclined to move into the Upper Middle Class, which has grown more than 16-percent since the Reagan years began, than someone without one," says economic analyst Ron Glasgow.
"Whereas the regular middle class has decreased by 10-percent, and the lower middle class was about static."
The trend has been for an increasing number of Americans to break through into the Upper Middle Class, and that trend is likely to continue, Glasgow says.
As with so many other aspects of our economy, though, there is one concern that could threaten to change this upward trend.
"I think artificial intelligence is a big wild card that says, 'How does AI factor into all those Upper Middle Class jobs, and will it take a lot of those away?'
"We're all waiting with bated breath to find out how that turns out."