Montana Middle Class is Shrinking

Montana’s middle class is shrinking as the income divide widens between the upper and lower classes.

The percentage of Montanans with middle-class incomes fell from 51.3 percent in 2000 to 46.6 percent in 2013, according to a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts. The drop was more than neighboring states Wyoming and Idaho, where the percentage of households earning between 67 and 200 percent of their state’s median income was nearly flat.

Median household income in Montana in 2013 was $46,972.

“The increase in income inequality in the United States has been well documented, and the hard question is: One, what is it caused by, and two, what can we do about it?” said Barbara Wagner, Montana Department of Labor chief economist.

Creating an educated workforce is part of the solution, Wagner said. The number of Montana jobs requiring more than a high school education is increasing, though the state lags behind the national demand for college-educated workers. There are still a lot of trade jobs in Montana that pay $50,000 or more annually.

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