Nearly half of Americans earning $100,000 or more think they're middle class - and it shows that class in America isn't just about money

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Wealth is all relative, especially when it comes to class.

• Class and wealth aren't the same.
• A recent survey by INSIDER and Morning Consult found that some Americans earning less than $50,000 feel rich, while others earning more than $100,000 feel poor.
• While class and wealth are relative, a shrinking middle class, increased living costs, and debt contribute to their differences.
• However, there isn't a huge difference between class and financial behavior.
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Class in America isn't just about money.

A recent survey by INSIDER and Morning Consult, which polled 4,400 Americans, asked respondents to define their current financial situation by selecting poor, working class, middle class, upper middle class, or affluent (or don't know) - and how they identified class-wise didn't always align with how much they earn annually.

For example, some six-figure earners consider themselves poor. While roughly 86% of those who think they're poor earn less than $50,000, 2% of those who identify as such earn more than $100,000, and around 10% earn between those two numbers. On the opposite side, there are the 17% of respondents who said they're affluent, but earn less than $50,000. Nearly half earn $100,000 or more, and around 34% earn between $50,000 and $100,000. 

But the class with the biggest difference in income levels is the middle class - 36% earn less than $50,000, 18% earn $100,000, and around 50% earn $50,000 to $100,000.

Read more: More than one-third of millennials earning at least $100,000 a year consider themselves middle class

That's how much money those in certain classes earn annually; flipping this, we also looked at how those in certain income brackets identify their class. Most notably, nearly 42% of those earning $100,000 or more think they're middle class - around 36% think they're upper middle class, and only 6% think they're affluent.

Class and wealth differ because of a shrinking middle class, increased living costs, and debt

These findings show that class and wealth aren't the same and both are relative - some can earn less and still feel rich, while others can earn more and feel that they're struggling financially.

There's also the fact that America's middle class is shrinking, according to the Pew Research Center, and that an increase in wages hasn't kept up with an exponential increase in the cost of living, according to research by Student Loan Hero.

Debt levels might also explain why some respondents' income levels seem off from the class they think they're in - if they're earning a lot of money, but putting it towards debt (or overspending, which can lead to some kinds of debt in the first place), they may not necessarily feel rich.

About 70% of the working class has credit card debt and roughly 65% each of the poor and middle class do, compared to slightly more than half each of the upper middle class and affluent.

Read more: Nearly half of indebted millennials say college wasn't worth it, and the reason why is obvious

Lower classes are also more likely to bear the weight of student loans. More than half each of the middle class, upper middle class, and affluent have never had student loans, compared to less than half each of poor and working class.

Of those who do have student loans, more of the middle class, upper class, and affluent have paid them off than the working class and the poor. Of the latter two groups, more than 30% each currently have student loans, compared to less than 20% of the middle class, and 10% each of the upper middle class and affluent.

Class and financial behavior don't differ as much

While respondents' wealth levels don't always align with class, their overall mindset and financial behaviors do.

Those who identify as middle class or higher are more likely to have a four-year college degree, own a car, and own a home. Slightly more than a quarter of the poor own a home, while half rent - nearly three-quarters of the middle class own a home (around 20% rent), and nearly 86% of the affluent own a home with less than 10% renting.

It makes sense then, that the lower down the class ranks you get, the more likely it is that people don't expect to ever own a home. Nearly half of the poor and working class don't expect to own a home, compared to nearly 37% of the middle class and upper middle class and 9% of the affluent.

In other expectations, more of the poor expect to never retire, while more of the affluent expect to retire at a younger age - by 55. And the higher the class, the more likely they are to  think they're financially faring better off than they thought they'd be 10 years ago.

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