In Michigan, Rich are Getting Richer – So Are the Poor

The number of Michigan households in higher income brackets has been on the rise in recent years.

The number of households earning at least $100,000 annually increased 45 percent between 2005 and 2016, going from 591,446 to 857,648, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

During the same period, the number of households earning between $25,000 and $100,000 declined by 5.3 percent, from 2.3 million to 2.1 million. And the number whose residents who earned less than $25,000 fell by 15.0 percent, from 1.0 million to 889,192.

Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint and member of the Mackinac Center Board of Scholars, found similar trends throughout the United States.

According to Perry, over a 50-year period, the proportion of American households earning $50,000 a year or less fell 11.4 percent, and there were 5.2 percent fewer households earning between $50,000 and $100,000. Perry found that even after adjusting for inflation, the number of households earning $100,000 and above had more than tripled, from 8.1 percent to 24.7 percent.

James Hohman, a fiscal policy analyst at the Mackinac Center, said the trend in Michigan’s household incomes is a positive one.

“Michigan’s middle class is shrinking. So is its lower class,” Hohman said. “More people are in higher income households, and that is good thing.”