American society is stratified into social classes based on wealth, income, educational attainment, occupation, and social networks.
The American upper class is the highest socioeconomic bracket in the social hierarchy and is defined by its members' great wealth and power.
The upper-middle class refers to people within the middle class that have high educational attainment, high salaries, and high status jobs.
The lower-middle class are those with some education and comfortable salaries, but with socioeconomic statuses below the upper-middle class.
The working class consists of individuals and households with low educational attainment, low status occupations, and below average incomes.
The lower class consists of those at the bottom of the socioeconomic hierarchy who have low education, low income, and low status jobs.
The United States has a high level of income inequality, with a wide gap between the top and bottom brackets of earners.