Baton Rouge - middle class on par with nation, percentage of poor is high

TLDR - BR's middle class is the same size as most of the country. The wealthy class is tiny, and the poor class is huge.

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There's a lot of talk in East Baton Rouge Parish about how the middle class is leaving the area, looking for better and more affordable educational opportunities for their children in the suburbs of Ascension and Livingston Parish.

A new report from Brookings provides an interesting look at that issue.... from a strict numbers perspective, the percentage of people in Baton Rouge in the "middle class" by its purest definition -- the middle fifth of national income distribution -- is actually about on par with the national average. What's different in Baton Rouge, though, is we have a lot more poor people, and a lot fewer wealthy people.

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Nationwide, the middle 20 percent of households earn between $41,110 and $65,952 annually. In Baton Rouge, about 18.9 percent of households fall into that category, which is fairly close to the nationwide 20 percent.

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https://www.nola.com/news/baton-rouge/index.ssf/2015/06/baton_rouges_middle_class_is_o.html#incart_river

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But while only 40 percent of households nationwide make below $41,109, a whopping 56.6 percent of households in Baton Rouge fit into that range, according to Brookings. Most of them in Baton Rouge -- about 33.6 percent -- are in the poorest category, making less than $21,433.

And while 40 percent of households nationwide fall into the top earning categories and make above $65,953, in Baton Rouge it's only 27.5 percent.

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LINK to Brookings Report