Is Midlife Crisis A Middle Class Problem?

Self-reported midlife crisis does not change much with income.

Our analysis of 1998's MIDUS (Midlife Development in the United States) study shows that people who say they've had a midlife crisis don't have higher or lower incomes than the general population.

Looking at people between 40 and 60 who said they'd had a midlife crisis:

- 50% had household incomes of $50,000 or more. That's about what you'd expect: 52% of all 45-54 year olds* had household incomes in excess of $50k in 1998.

- 21% had household incomes between $35k - $50k. That's more than the 16% of all 45-54 year olds in that income range, but the sample size of 18 makes the difference statistically insignificant.

- 29% had household incomes under $35k, close to the 32% of all 45-54 year olds in that range.

Note that these self-reported midlife crises include events, such as divorce or a death in the family, that may cause a psychological upheaval in midlife, but aren't a classic age-related midlife crisis. The crises in the survey were split about 50/50 between the two types.

We haven't found any other data that provides finer gradations on household income, so we could zero in on household incomes $50k - $100k or $100k+.

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* the Census Bureau table we used does not give us a way to look at ages 40-60; they break income at 35-44, 45-54, and 55-64 years old. Including those other age groups would not have altered our conclusion: for instance, 47% of 35-64 year olds fall into the $50k+ household income group, close to the 50% of 40-60 year olds who say they've experienced a midlife crisis.

Sources:

1999 Statistical Abstract of the United States, Table 744

Midlife Development in the United States, Psychological Experiences Followup Study, 1998, using online analyis at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research