The Emerging Black Middle Class: Single and Living Alone

Abstract

The literature on the black middle class has focused predominantly on married-couple families with children, reflecting a conception of the black middle class as principally composed of this family type. If that conception is correct, then declining rates of marriage and childrearing would imply a decline in the presence and vitality of the black middle class. Indeed, this is the implication that researchers typically draw from the decline in black marriage rates. However, an alternative view suggests that the decline in marriage and childrearing is producing a shift in the types of households comprising the black middle class. This paper assesses – and affirms – that alternative view. This research shows that, indeed, never-married singles who live alone (Love Jones Cohort) constitute a rapidly growing segment of the black middle class, a development which requires rethinking how the black middle class is conceptualized and studied.

Full text

e Emerging Black Middle Class
e Emerging Black Middle Class: Single and Living Alone
Kris Marsh, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
William A. Darity Jr., Duke University
Philip N. Cohen, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Lynne M. Casper, University of Southern California
Danielle Salters, Duke University
e literature on the black middle class has focused predominantly
on married-couple families with children, reecting a
conception of the black middle class as principally composed
of this family type. If that conception is correct, then declining
rates of marriage and childrearing would imply a decline in the
presence and vitality of the black middle class. Indeed, this is the
implication that researchers typically draw from the decline in
black marriage rates. However, an alternative view suggests that
the decline in marriage and childrearing is producing a shi in
the types of households comprising the black middle class. is
paper assesses – and arms – that alternative view. is research
shows that, indeed, never-married singles who live alone (Love
Jones Cohort) constitute a rapidly growing segment of the black
middle class, a development which requires rethinking how the
black middle class is conceptualized and studied.
Over the past three decades in the United States, the age of marriage
has risen, divorce rates have remained relatively stable, cohabitation has
soared, non-marital childbearing has become more prevalent, marrying
and having children have become less common, and more women,
especially mothers, are in the labor force (Casper and Bianchi 2002). With
the exception of the trend toward not having children, these trends have
been dramatically evident among blacks (Tucker and Mitchell-Kernan
1995). The retreat from marriage, in particular, has been more pronounced
for blacks than for any other racial group (Raley 2000)
e authors thank John-Charles Duy, Barbara Entwisle, Bill Wentworth, the anonymous
reviewers and conference and seminar participants for their extremely helpful comments.
Earlier versions of this paper were presented in New York at the 2007 meetings of the
American Sociological Association and the Population Association of America. Direct
correspondence to: Kris Marsh, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, University Square, Campus Box 8120, 123 West Franklin St., Chapel Hill,
NC 27516-2524. E-mail: marshk@unc.edu.
© The University of North Carolina Press Social Forces, Volume 86, Number 2, December 2007

2 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
These changes in family patterns invite questions about the
demographics of the black middle class. Research on the black middle
class has focused predominantly on married-couple families with children,
reecting a conception of the black middle class as principally composed
of this family type. If that conception is correct, then declining rates of
marriage and childrearing would imply a decline in the presence and vitality
of the black middle class. Indeed, this is the implication that researchers
typically draw from the decline in black marriage rates (Attewell et al.
2005; Besharov 2005; Billingsley 1986; Hill 1971; Landry 1987; McAdoo
1997; Smith and Welch 1986). However, an alternative view suggests that
the decline in marriage and childrearing is producing a shift in the types of
households comprising the black middle class away from married couples
with children and towards singles living alone. This inquiry assesses – and
afrms – that alternative view.
Numerous studies reinforce the generalization that married-couple
family households with children tend to be middle class and that single
and/or divorced households – the U.S. Census Bureau category that
includes single-parent households – tend to be poor (Attewell et al. 2004;
Billingsley 1968; Blair-Loy and Dehart 2003; Casper and Bianchi 2002;
Durant and Louden 1986; Korenman and Neumark 1992; McAdoo 1997;
Smith and Welch 1986; Thomas and Sawhill 2005). However, popular
media, such as TV and lm, may be emulating reality by depicting a new
kind of middle-class black: young, never-married, urban professionals
living alone. Films focusing on this new demographic prole include Love
Jones (1997), about a young black male poet in Chicago who dates a
talented female photographer, and The Brothers (2001), in which four
black male friends begin to question their intimate relationships when one
of them announces his impending marriage. To this list could be added
the sitcom Girlfriends (TV series, 2000- ), about four young black women
managing their professional and personal lives. These media depictions
invite a reexamination of demographic shifts in the black middle class as
a result of changing family patterns. Do these popular representations of
a new black middle class reect an actual demographic change?
Taking a cue from the acronyms that have been offered by the U.S.
Census Bureau to describe different family congurations – such as
DEWKs (dual earners with kids) or DINKs (dual income, no kids) – this
study refers to households comprised of one person who is never-married
(hereafter referred to as single) and living alone as SALA (single and living
alone). Borrowing the title of one of the popular lms mentioned above,
we dub these black middle-class SALAs the “Love Jones Cohort.”
1
The
operational characteristics used to identify the Love Jones Cohort are the
following: blacks, ages 25 through 44, who live alone, are single (never

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 3
married), hold high-wage occupations, have advanced degrees, maintain
household incomes above average and own their own homes.
2
This article has ve objectives. The rst three tasks are descriptive:
First, to provide an overview of black household class status over
time; second, to address the importance and growth of SALAs; third,
to identify the household composition of the new black middle class
and document that SALAs are the emerging black middle class, and;
fourth, to test whether members of the Love Jones Cohort remain
single and live alone as they age. If the cohort proves to be a temporary
phenomenon among younger householders (ages 25-34), then it is
simply a transitional category. That is, if these young, black, single
professionals who live alone eventually marry and/or have children,
then prevailing understandings about black middle-class status and
household type will not be challenged signicantly. However, if the
Love Jones Cohort remains SALA as it ages and retains its middle-class
status, then it constitutes a new, potentially permanent social grouping
within the larger black middle class. It follows that the black middle
class extends substantially beyond married families, and researchers
will need to expand discussions of black households and economic
status beyond discussions of married and single parent households.
Finally, the analysis determines if SALAs are more likely to be middle
class than married-couple householders living with a child. If they are,
then being single and living alone can be seen as a more advantageous
strategy than marriage for establishing one’s middle-class status. This
conclusion would disrupt even further the standard association of black
middle-class status with marital status. In addition, it would reinforce
our contention that the black middle class should be studied through a
household lens and not a family lens.
Black Family Patterns and the Black Middle Class
Researchers have frequently equated the black middle class with married-
couple families. This, in turn, has led to predictions of a decline in the black
middle class as a result of the decline in black marriages. The association
of married-couple families with middle-class status arises out of the
perception that married households enjoy higher incomes, especially
in comparison with single-mother households. Writing in 1986, Smith
and Welch argued that the dissolution of “husband-wife black families”
results in new family units whose incomes “will necessarily be smaller
than that of the original intact family.” The authors go on to say that “this
is particularly true for female-headed families, where the typically higher
male income is lost and the ability of many women to compensate by

4 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
working is constrained by their childcare responsibilities.” (Smith and
Welch 1986:105) Consistent with this logic, Smith and Welch found that
the racial income gap for family income narrows substantially in families
where both husband and wife were present (Thomas 1989). Two decades
later, Besharov (2005) offered a variation of this argument. His argument
is based on the premise that, mostly because of dual earners, married-
couple families have higher incomes than other types of families. Besharov
therefore attributed the stagnation of the black middle class to a decline
in dual-income black households. He further argues that, though growing
in absolute terms, the black middle class is not growing as a share of the
black population.
Like Besharov, McAdoo (1997) maintains that dual incomes are
necessary to maintain black middle-class status. McAdoo argues that
for urban and suburban middle-income black families with school-
age children, socioeconomic mobility “would not have been possible
without two incomes and could not be maintained without the continued
employment of both parents.” (McAdoo 1997:157) This is increasingly
true for the entire U.S. population. Other scholars echo the importance
of dual incomes when they suggest that black wives need to participate
in the labor force to secure and maintain middle-class status for their
families (Billingsley 1986; Hill 1971; Landry 2000).
The assumed association between marriage and middle-class status
is so strong that scholars afrm it even in the face of data that might
be viewed as counterevidence. Consider, for example, the response of
Attewell et al. (2004) to the discovery that “the legal marriage rate in
the African-American community has been declining over time, even
as the black middle class has grown.” Attempting to account for the
discrepancy, Attewell et al. surmise that the declining marriage rate “acts
as a brake upon household incomes” and that “the more that marriage
and cohabitation rates shrink over time, the greater the economic braking
effect becomes. Conversely, if marriage or cohabitation rates were to rise,
the growth of black families with middle class incomes would accelerate.”
(Attewell 2004:15) This is, as we will see, a dubious conclusion.
Equating dual-income married-couple families with the black middle
class has a strong commonsense appeal. However, there are two
problems with the logic behind this equation. First, to gauge the effect of
income on a family’s socioeconomic status, it is necessary to calculate
per person income. Besharov’s (2005) observation that married-couple
families generally have higher incomes than other family types leaves
open the issue of whether those higher family incomes translate into
higher-per-person incomes. Smith and Welch (1986) similarly do not take
into account factors other than total income that may have ramications
for a family’s economic well-being. For example, the researchers do not

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 5
include an accounting of family size (Thomas and Sawhill 2005). As this
research will demonstrate, patterns of black afuence differ between
married-couple households living with a child and married-couple
households living without a child.
A second problem with the equation of married couples who have
middle-class status is that the direction of causality is unclear. This has
deep political ramications. Much of the literature suggests that family
type produces middle-class status (rather than people already possessing
middle-class status choosing to marry or cohabit). This directional linkage
is consistent with neo-conservative ideology, which presents marriage as
an anti-poverty strategy (Blank 1997).
In fact, however, marriage patterns can simply perpetuate preexisting
inequalities: marriage between poor people does not necessarily advance
individuals from poverty to middle-class status. An alternative to the neo-
conservative view is provided by South (1991). South’s study examines
socio-demographic differentials in mate selection. He proposes that
“people with higher socioeconomic status seek to ‘exchange’ their
resources for a spouse with valued qualities.” (Fossett and Kiecolt 1993;
Hirschl, Altobelli and Rank 2003; Rose 2004; South 1991:937) South’s
proposal serves as a caution against assuming that middle-class status
follows marriage. In South’s assortative mating approach, individuals
attain or maintain higher socioeconomic status without having to marry.
This is a scenario that corresponds to that which we envision for the Love
Jones Cohort.


“people with higher socioeconomic status seek to ‘exchange’ their resources for a spouse
with valued qualities.” (Fossett and Kiecolt 1993; Hirschl, Altobelli and Rank 2003; Rose 2004;
South 1991:937) South’s proposal serves as a caution against assuming that middle-class
status follows marriage. In South’s assortative mating approach, individuals attain or maintain
higher socioeconomic status without having to marry. This is a scenario that corresponds to
that which we envision for the Love Jones Cohort.

In a similar vein, but at the opposite side of the economic spectrum, Edin and Kefalas
(2005) question the causal direction between marriage and economic status. They find that
poor women want to get married but that their potential mates are not good marriage
material: they are poor, lack quality jobs and are likely to have been in jail, to have drug and
alcohol problems, and may be violent. For these women, the costs of marriage apparently
outweigh its benefits.
Perhaps the most significant problem in focusing exclusively on married-couple
families as constituting the black middle class is that researchers lose sight of other
household types – notably, as this study will show, the growing proportion of blacks who are
single and living alone.
The U.S. Census Bureau divides households into two categories: family and non-family
(Casper and Bianchi 2002; Fields and Casper 2001). A family household is one in which
members are related to the householder through blood, marriage or adoption. Family
households are then subdivided into married-couple families and other families. A married-
couple family household has both spouses present in the same household. Other-family
households consist of an unmarried householder, with no spouse present, and at least one
family member related through blood, marriage or adoption (e.g., children). Members of non-
family households are not related through blood or marriage, and children are not present.
SALA is one type of non-family household – one-person households in which the householder
is single (never married) and living alone. Other examples of non-family households include
two or more unrelated and unmarried persons sharing a living unit as roommates or
cohabitors living without children (Casper and Cohen 2000).
Researchers who equate married-couple families with the black middle class are not
considering the possibility that the rise in the number of non-family households in the black
population represents a significant segment of the black middle class. The emergence of the
Love Jones Cohort would yield a very different explanation for the data that startled Attewell
et al. (2004). One does not need to hypothesize a delayed-action “braking effect” to explain
the growth of the black middle class during a time of declining black marriage if, in fact, there
is a growing proportion of SALAs with middle-class status. This may be true even if there also
is a concentration of poverty among non-married blacks.
The existence of the Love Jones Cohort also would yield a new perspective on the
concept of “stabilizing” one’s class position. Durant and Louden (1986) argue that middle-
class blacks (which for them means married-couple families) face a problem of continually
having to stabilize their class position. This means that middle-class blacks need to establish a
firm residential base (buy a house in a “good” place), develop and maintain strong institutional
ties and positions commensurate with middle-class status (family stability, white-collar
Marriage
Neo
-
Conservative Approach
Middle
-
class Status
Middle-class People
Assortative Mating Approach
Marry/Cohabit
In a similar vein, but at the opposite side of the economic spectrum,
Edin and Kefalas (2005) question the causal direction between marriage
and economic status. They nd that poor women want to get married
but that their potential mates are not good marriage material: they are
poor, lack quality jobs and are likely to have been in jail, to have drug and
alcohol problems, and may be violent. For these women, the costs of
marriage apparently outweigh its benets.
Perhaps the most signicant problem in focusing exclusively on married-
couple families as constituting the black middle class is that researchers
lose sight of other household types – notably, as this study will show, the
growing proportion of blacks who are single and living alone.
The U.S. Census Bureau divides households into two categories:
family and non-family (Casper and Bianchi 2002; Fields and Casper
2001). A family household is one in which members are related to the

6 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
householder through blood, marriage or adoption. Family households are
then subdivided into married-couple families and other families. A married-
couple family household has both spouses present in the same household.
Other-family households consist of an unmarried householder, with no
spouse present, and at least one family member related through blood,
marriage or adoption (e.g., children). Members of non-family households
are not related through blood or marriage, and children are not present.
SALA is one type of non-family household – one-person households in
which the householder is single (never married) and living alone. Other
examples of non-family households include two or more unrelated and
unmarried persons sharing a living unit as roommates or cohabitors living
without children (Casper and Cohen 2000).
Researchers who equate married-couple families with the black middle
class are not considering the possibility that the rise in the number of
non-family households in the black population represents a signicant
segment of the black middle class. The emergence of the Love Jones
Cohort would yield a very different explanation for the data that startled
Attewell et al. (2004). One does not need to hypothesize a delayed-action
“braking effect” to explain the growth of the black middle class during a
time of declining black marriage if, in fact, there is a growing proportion
of SALAs with middle-class status. This may be true even if there also is
a concentration of poverty among non-married blacks.
The existence of the Love Jones Cohort also would yield a new
perspective on the concept of “stabilizing” one’s class position. Durant
and Louden (1986) argue that middle-class blacks (which for them
means married-couple families) face a problem of continually having to
stabilize their class position. This means that middle-class blacks need to
establish a rm residential base (buy a house in a “good” place), develop
and maintain strong institutional ties and positions commensurate with
middle-class status (family stability, white-collar occupations, political
participation and high levels of education), and develop and exemplify
behavior patterns and life-styles appropriate to the middle class.
If we are correct about the growth of the Love Jones Cohort, it would
appear that this group has a different set of strategies for stabilizing its
class position. Contrary to the prevailing assumption in the literature, this
cohort stabilizes its position by not marrying and continuing to live alone.
Indeed, when the complications of per person income are taken into
account, SALAs may have certain advantages in maintaining middle-class
status over married couples. If true, this will be a somewhat surprising
conclusion given that earlier studies have found that childbearing among
blacks does not hurt and marriage actually helps respondents’ careers, as
measured by earning a higher salary (Blair-Loy and Dehart 2003; Cohen
2002; Korenman and Neumark 1992).

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 7
Dening the Black Middle Class
Previous Studies
Scholars have struggled for decades to decide who among the black
population should be considered middle class (Billingsley 1968; Bowser
2007; Fraizer 1957; Heiss 1975; Lacy 2007; Landry 1987; McAdoo 1978,
1988; Oliver and Shapiro 1997; Pattillo-McCoy 1999; Scanzoni and
Scanzoni 1976; Wilson 1978). Quantitative denitions of the black middle
class generally rely on four variables, used either in combination with one
another or independently: education, homeownership (as a measure of
wealth), income and occupation (Drake and Horace 1962; Feagin and Sikes
1994; Frazier 1957; Landry 1987; Oliver and Shapiro 1997; Tomaskovic-
Devey, Thomas and Johnson 2005).
Examining census data with each of these measures offers a rough
sense of the size of the black middle class. The 2000 U.S. Census reported
that 16 percent of blacks (25 and older) have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Forty-six percent live in an owner-occupied housing unit. The black median
household income (in 1999 dollars) was $29,423, and 25 percent of the
black employed are in management, professional and related occupations.
For comparison purposes, 24 percent of the U.S. population (25 and older)
as a whole have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Sixty-six percent live in
an owner-occupied housing unit. The median household income (in 1999
dollars) was $41,994, and 34 percent were in management, professional
and related occupations (U.S. Census Bureau 2000).
Researchers widely agree that middle-class blacks have not been
insulated from historical and persistent marginalization, discrimination and
racism (Bowser 2007). Consequently, the black middle class experience
differs from that of the white middle class. Middle-class blacks live in less
socioeconomically attractive neighborhoods and in close proximity to the
black poor (Adelman 2005; Alba, Logan and Stults 2000; Pattillo-McCoy
1999). Substantial wealth disparities relative to whites leave middle-class
blacks with fewer assets to bequeath to the next generation (Kochhar
2004). The extended family structure of middle-class blacks, which
emphasizes a moral obligation and social responsibility to invest assets
in their extended family and the larger black community, prevents assets
accumulation for middle-class blacks (Chiteji and Hamilton 2000).
e Black Middle Class Index
Building on the work of several scholars who have dened the black
middle class (Landry 1987; Oliver and Shapiro 1997; Pattillo-McCoy
1999), we have created a black middle class index (BMCi) as the rst step

8 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
Table 1: Selected Scholars’ Criteria for Measuring the Black Middle Class


Table 1: Selected Scholars’ Criteria for Measuring the Black Middle Class
Scholar(s)* Year Definition of the Black Middle Class
Fraizer, E.F. 1957 Frazier defines the black bourgeoisie as “those Negroes who derive their incomes principally from the services which
they render as white-collar workers.” (43)
Billingsley, A. 1968 Billingsley explains “the black middle class is a major achievement sustained by education, two earners, extended
families, religion, and service to others.” (287)
McAdoo, H.P. 1978 McAdoo describes a certain level of education and financial security (139-140) and motivation and support of the
wider community and extended family necessary to attain middle-class status (147). McAdoo suggests that “mobility
would not have been possible without two incomes and could not be maintained without the continued employment
of both parents.” (157)
Wilson, W.J. 1978 Wilson associates the black middle class with “those who are employed in white-collar jobs and in craftsmen and
foremen positions.” (x)
Collins, S. 1983 Collins states that the movement of increased numbers of blacks into a wider range of professions and higher
income brackets has created a “visible” black middle class (369).
Landry, B. 1987 Landry defines the black middle class solely on occupation, including the professionals, managers (non-owners),
sales workers, and clerical workers as well as small businessmen and some service occupations such as policemen,
firemen, and dental assistants (7).
Oliver, M.
Shapiro, T.
1997 Oliver and Shapiro stress the importance of wealth in determining class. For them “the middle class is characterized
by a variety of white-collar occupations ranging from sales clerks and teachers to executives, professionals, and the
self-employed.” They also include income (between $25,000 and 50,000) and mention the importance of other
factors such as education, experience, and skills in determining earnings (35).
Pattillo-McCoy, M. 1999 Pattillo-McCoy says that the middle class is determined by “a combination of socioeconomic factors (mostly income,
occupation, and education) and normative judgments (ranging from where people live, to what churches or clubs
they belong to, to whether they plant flowers in their gardens” (13)
Bowser, B. 2007 Bowser states that “the single most important ticket into the modern middle class is higher education.” (113)

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 9
toward identifying the Love Jones Cohort. Table 1 provides a selective
list of different ways scholars have dened the black middle class. As the
table shows, most scholars use some combination of education, income,
occupation and wealth.
Several of the indicators of middle-class status cited in Table 1 are
inadequate for various reasons. For example, these researchers look only
through a family lens when trying to understand the black middle class.
Many also fail to incorporate any wealth indicator into their work. Wealth
disparities between the black and white middle classes make the black
middle class an economically vulnerable group.
A very important difference between this study and previous studies is the
use of households as the unit of analysis (Dickson and Marsh forthcoming).
To our knowledge, no existing research has examined SALA households
as a prospect for inclusion in the black middle class. Examining the black
middle class by household type allows us to take into account changes in
family patterns in the larger black community. We are thus able to include
SALA households in our analysis, whereas this category is rendered invisible
when families are treated as the unit of analysis.
To be classied as middle class or higher, any individual in the household
must satisfy criteria for four of the indicators of the BMCi: education,
homeownership, per person income and occupational prestige. The BMCi
has no upper limits for income, education or occupational prestige. The
term “middle class” refers to all relatively afuent households as well as
those that are extremely afuent. The BMCi is scored 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. The
maximum score is four and is the score required for classication as middle
class.
3
Adding home ownership to the more commonly used criteria for
determining middle-class status takes into account the wealth vulnerability
of middle-class blacks, which some scholars do not consider.
Educational Attainment
The educational attainment variable measures the highest level of schooling
completed within each household. The highest value for this measure is
“4+ years of college completed.” If any individual in the household meets
this criterion, the household is assigned a point on the BMCi. In 2000,
roughly a fth of black households with householders ages 25-54 and
25-44 (21 and 20 percent, respectively) met the educational requirement
for this index.
Wealth
Home ownership is a proxy for wealth. Home ownership is one of the
more signicant dimensions of wealth for most people (or households)
who have positive net worth (Oliver and Shapiro 1997). Householders who

10 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
own or are buying a home receive one point on the BMCi. Among black
householders in the 25 through 54-year-old range, about half (45 percent)
own or are buying their homes, a gure that has been fairly constant since
1980. For householders 25-44 years old, the rate of homeownership was
slightly lower, at 39 percent in 2000. The inclusion of home ownership
as a variable in the BMCi led to a number of households being excluded
from the Love Jones Cohort that might otherwise have the appearance of
being middle class.
4
Per person Income
When scholars examine the black middle class, they often compare
families of different sizes without making adjustments for this difference.
To ensure that households of different sizes can be compared accurately,
a per person income indicator is calculated for each household type. To
calculate per person income, this study uses a computation technique
suggested in Citro and Michael (1995). De Ruijter, Treas and Cohen
(2005:312) describe this computation as follows:
Scale value = (A+PK)
F
“where A is the number of adults in the households, K is the number of
children (each treated as a proportion P of an adult), and F is the scale
economy factor.” P equals 0.7:1 or the proportion of a child to an adult. F
equals 0.65 or the economies to scale.
Scale value = (A+.70K)
.65
To illustrate how this computation works, consider that households
of three different types – a married-couple householder living with two
children, a single householder living with one child, and a single householder
living alone – all have a total household income of $50,000. The scale
values for these three households are 2.215, 1.766, and 1, respectively.
When each household income ($50,000) is divided by the scale value, the
per-person incomes are $22,568.81 for the married-couple householder
with children, $35,414.26 for the single householder living with a child,
and $50,000 for the single householder living alone. The latter would be
the most afuent of the three.
This study takes the per-person income for each household and
compares this income to the median per-person income for all black
households. A household whose per person income exceeds the 1980,
1990 and 2000 medians receives a score of one on the BMCi.

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 11
Occupational Prestige
OCCSCORE is an occupational score index that measures occupational
reward; the index is available across decennial census datasets from 1850
to 2000 and is based on 1950 occupational classications and incomes
(Dietrich forthcoming; Ruggles et al. 2004). The values are presented in
1950 dollars scaled downward by units of 100. For example, if median
total income for economists was $20,000 in 1950, the value equals 20 for
economists in all decennial census datasets.
5
As a point of reference, the
highest average OCCSCORE for any racial/ethnic group in 1990 was 37.03
(the score for people of Russian ancestry). The average OCCSCORE for all
men in 1990 was 29.61; for black men it was 25.77 (Darity, Dietrich and
Guilkey 2003).
6
For the BMCi, OCCSCORE is interpreted as a measure of occupational
prestige. Assuming that household members share class status, this
study takes the person in each household with the highest OCCSCORE
value and compare his or her score to the median for the highest ranking
individuals in all black households. This gives us a median score of 24 for
2000 and 23 for 1990 and1980. A household whose OCCSCORE exceeds
these medians receives a score of one on the BMCi.
Data
Using the one percent sample of the 1980, 1990 and 2000 Integrated Public
Use Microdata Series, we select both person and household variables
for non-Hispanic blacks living in non-group quarters. This selection at
the person level ensures we are examining households comprised of
a black householder (and black spouse). The 1 percent dataset for all
three years had slightly more than 808,000 person records. When we
aggregate the person records to the household level based on the age
of the householder, there are slightly more than 160,000 households with
householders in the 25 through 54-year-old range and close to 115,500
households with householders in the 25 through 44-year-old range. The
Love Jones Cohort is embedded in the latter category.
The seven household types for this analysis are: single (never-married),
living alone ; single (never-married), living with an adult (or adults); single
(never-married), living with a child (or children); single (never-married)
living with an adult (or adults) and a child (or children); married, living
without a child (or children); married, living with a child (or children); and
formerly-married.
7
These household types are not exhaustive. Married,
spouse-absent households are dropped from the sample.
As explained above, the reason for using households as the unit of
analysis is that they reveal the shifting marital trends that are taking place

12 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
on a large scale in the black community. The literature pays only a small
degree of attention to the rise of SALAs.
We hypothesize that the Love Jones Cohort is a life-cycle specic
phenomenon; hence, this study is limited to householders in the 24
through 54-year-old range. This age limit captures the prime working
years and the peak years of marriage. And eliminates both elderly blacks
who are likely to be retired and younger blacks who have yet to nish their
educations and establish themselves economically.
Procedures
To understand changes in middle-class status by household type over
time, this project uses three approaches: cross-section analysis,
synthetic-cohort analysis and logistic regression. In the cross-sectional
analyses, we rst produce a descriptive account of black households
across the census years 1980, 1990 and 2000. Second, we assess the
increasing presence of SALAs among all black household types. Third we
identify household composition in conjunction with middle-class status
to examine the growth of SALA households in the black middle-class.
This allows us to test whether the Love Jones Cohort is accounting for a
growing share of the black middle class. Fourth, to examine whether the
Love Jones Cohort persists within age cohorts over time, we examine
black middle-class householders as their cohorts move through time
at 10-year age intervals. Because census data are not longitudinal, this
research employs a synthetic-cohort analysis to track householders born
about 1950, 1960 and 1970 as they age through the 1980 to 2000 census
years. Finally, to determine whether certain household types are associated
with an increased likelihood of membership in the black middle class, we
use multivariate regression analysis. Households are the unit of analysis.
This analysis allows for a test of the nal hypothesis: that SALAs are
more likely to be middle class than married-couple households. For the
regression analysis, the BMCi is recoded as a dichotomous dependent
variable equal to one when all four criteria are met. First, we run a model for
householders ages 25-54. Second, we run a model for householders ages
25-54 by gender.
8
Finally, we repeat these same models for householders
ages 25-44.
Findings
Black Middle Class Index
Table 2 shows the percentages of black households that scored a point
on each of the four indicators and the percentages of black households

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 13
that scored 1 on all four indicators of the BMCi and are therefore
considered middle class. Table 2 also contains data for households with
householders ages 25-54 and 25-44 in 1980, 1990 and 2000. It is clear that
educational attainment is the most selective of the four BMCi indicators.
Only one in ve black households with householders in the 25 through
54-year-old range has a minimum of one household member with four
or more years of college in 2000. In 1980, the gure was 13 percent.
Homeownership rates were slightly higher in 2000 than1980. In 2000 and
1990 less than half (46 and 43, respectively) of black households with
householders in the 25 through 54-year-old range were homeowners.
Households with householders in the 25 through 44-year-old range have
lower rates of inclusion than householders ages 25-54 for the per person
income and homeownership indicators and comparable or slightly higher
rates for occupational score and education. It is also clear that the black
middle class is growing. In 2000, 10 percent of black households with
householders in the 25 through 54-year-old range were middle class, up
from 6 percent in 1980.
9
SALAs and All Black Households
Table 3 shows seven household types, each with its respective percentage
share of all black households. The percentages are given for 1980, 1990
Table 2: Percent of Black Households with Each BMCi Indicator


Table 2: Percent of Black Households with Each BMCi Indicator

Black Householders Ages 25-54

Black Householders Ages 25-44
* Median per person income for all black households: $18,876 (2000); $12,000
(1990), and $6,682 (1980).

Median occupational prestige score of all black households: 24 (2000), 23 (1990),
and 23 (1980).

Percent of black households scoring one on all four BMCi indicators
Indicators

1980 1990 2000
Per Person Income* 57.19 56.31 54.08
Occupation Score

52.91 55.69 57.94
Household Education 13.30 17.70 20.81
Homeownership 43.69 42.81 45.39
All Four Indicators

6.38 8.70 10.00
Indicators

1980 1990 2000
Per Person Income 55.65 52.93 49.92
Occupation Score 54.98 56.33 59.09
Household Education 14.45 18.45 20.43
Homeownership 38.63 36.85 39.31
All Four Indicators

6.22 8.02 8.55

Black Householders Ages 25-54

Black Householders Ages 25-44
* Median per person income for all black households: $18,876 (2000); $12,000 (1990),
and $6,682 (1980).

Median occupational prestige score of all black households: 24 (2000), 23 (1990),
and 23 (1980).

Percent of black households scoring one on all four BMCi indicators

14 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
and 2000 and for the two age groupings (25-54, 25-44). From 1980 to 2000,
for households with householders ages 25-54, SALAs grew; married-
couple households without children remained constant; and married-
couple households with children and formerly-married households
decreased. Single households living with children increased the most,
from 7 percent of total black households in 1980 to 13 percent in 2000.
SALA households grew from 9 percent in 1980 to 14 percent in 2000. In
Table 3 we see this growth made SALAs the third largest household type
(14 percent) in 2000, after married-couple households living with children
(25 percent) and formerly-married households (30 percent). Close to one
in seven black households are SALA.
10
From 1980 to 2000, single households with children had the highest
percentage point change of all households with householders in the
25 through 54- and 25 through 44-year-old range; most of this growth
occurred between 1980 and 1990. When comparing 1990 and 2000, we
see that the percentage point change is higher for SALA households
for the age group 25-54. Casper and Bianchi (2002) and Sayer, Cohen
and Casper (2004) nd that most changes in household and family types
occurred from 1970 to 1980, slowed from 1980 to 1990, and remained
constant since the mid-1990s. Scholars can no longer look past this
emerging black household type – SALA.
Table 3: Percent of Black Households by Type, Age of Householder
and Year


Table 3: Percent of Black Households by Type, Age of Householder and Year

Household Types

1980 1990 2000
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 9 10 14
Single, Living with an Adult 2 3 4
Single, Living with a Child 7 11 13
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 2 4 5
Married, Living without a Child 9 9 9
Married, Living with a Child 35 29 25
Formerly-Married 36 33 30
Total 100 100 100
N 48,427 49,246 64,372
Household Types

1980 1990 2000
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 10 11 15
Single, Living with an Adult 2 4 4
Single, Living with a Child 8 13 17
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 3 5 7
Married, Living without a Child 6 6 6
Married, Living with a Child 37 31 26
Formerly-Married 32 29 25
Total 100 100 100
N 35,618 36,339 43,527

Black Householders Ages 25-54

Black Householders Ages 25-44

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 15
SALAs and the Black Middle Class
The composition of the black middle class is shifting. In 2000, 11 percent
of black middle class households with the householder in the 25 through
54-year-old range were SALAs, up from 5 percent in 1980; the same
pattern is apparent among younger households (25-44).
11
This study clearly
detects the presence of a Love Jones Cohort. Given the assumption that
the Love Jones Cohort is a phenomenon of younger householders, we
graph these changes in household percentages by middle-class status
for households with householders ages 25 to 44.
12
Figure 1 shows that
in 2000, single and living alone householders made up 14 percent of
middle-class black households. This means SALAs more than doubled
their share of the black middle class, from 6 percent in 1980. Meanwhile,
married-couple households with children are decreasing their share
and formerly-married are retaining their share. Among households with
householders ages 25-44, the proportion of middle-class households that
were married-couple living without children remained virtually unchanged
from 1980 to
2000.
Table 3: Percent of Black Households by Type, Age of Householder
and Year


Table 3: Percent of Black Households by Type, Age of Householder and Year

Household Types

1980 1990 2000
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 9 10 14
Single, Living with an Adult 2 3 4
Single, Living with a Child 7 11 13
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 2 4 5
Married, Living without a Child 9 9 9
Married, Living with a Child 35 29 25
Formerly-Married 36 33 30
Total 100 100 100
N 48,427 49,246 64,372
Household Types

1980 1990 2000
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 10 11 15
Single, Living with an Adult 2 4 4
Single, Living with a Child 8 13 17
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 3 5 7
Married, Living without a Child 6 6 6
Married, Living with a Child 37 31 26
Formerly-Married 32 29 25
Total 100 100 100
N 35,618 36,339 43,527

Black Householders Ages 25-54

Black Householders Ages 25-44
Figure 1. Percent Distribution of Black Middle-Class Households


Figure 1. Percent Distribution of Black Middle-class Households
5.82
9.05
14.32
64.6
57.78
48.08
12.78
14.09
13.68
5.13
3.04
3.41
12.19
12.28
12.34
1980 1990 2000
Single, Living Alone (SALA) Single, Living with an Adult Single, Living with a Child
Single, Living with an Adult and Child Married, Living without a Child Married, Living with a Child
Formally married


Note: Black Householders Ages 25-44
Note: Black Householders Ages 25-44

16 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
Figure 1 also shows that married-couple households with children
comprise the largest segment of the black middle class although they
have been steadily declining since 1980. In 2000, the Love Jones Cohort,
slightly edging out the formerly-married households, made up the second
largest segment of the black middle class. This gure illustrates that SALA
was the fastest growing black middle-class household with householders
in the 25 through 44-year-old range between 1980 and 2000. If present
trends persist, SALA is on track to become the household type accounting
for the largest segment of the black middle class.
e Love Jones Cohort and Aging
As people age, they tend go through different phases of the life course
(Casper and Bianchi 2002). When people reach middle age, they are more
likely to be married and have children than when they were in their 20s.
After people have reached their prime childrearing years, their children are
likely to move out. Also, as young adults age, they tend to earn more and
are more likely to buy houses. We now investigate the effects of aging on
household composition and middle-class status. It is possible that as the
Love Jones Cohort ages its members will marry and have children. If this
occurs these individuals will cease being single and living alone. Thus, the
strategy of remaining single and childless to achieve and solidify middle
class status is called into question. In other words, the Love Jones Cohort
may not be eschewing marriage and children, just postponing them.
Figure 2 shows two important trends for cohorts born around 1950,
1960 and 1970. First, the increasing share of SALA households among the
black middle class is not conned to one cohort. That is, their share of the
black middle class increases with each cohort, from around 8 percent to
around 12 percent to around 22 percent. Second, there has been only a
slight decline in their share of the black middle class as the 1950 and 1960
cohorts have aged. Their representation among the black middle class
is not just a phenomenon of early adulthood. In 2000, SALA households
with householders ages 25-34 comprised almost a quarter of black middle
class households, up from 8 percent in 1980.
13
These ndings indicate
that the Love Jones Cohort is an emerging phenomenon, and conrm the
hypothesis that as the Love Jones Cohort ages it maintains a consistent
share of the middle-class status.
Odds of Being Middle Class
In Table 4, model 1, SALA households made continual strides from 1980
to 2000 in increasing their relative odds of acquiring middle-class status.

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 17
In 2000, we nd that married-couple households without children have
greater odds of being middle class than married-couple households with
children. We also nd that single households with an adult and children
have much lesser odds of being in the middle class than married-couple
households with children. This pattern is also true in 1990.
In Model 2 we run a regression using the gender of the formerly-
married and single household types (except for single, living with an adult
and child). In 2000, female SALA households (.539) are about half as likely
to qualify as black middle class as are married-couple households with a
child; the difference between the odds ratios for these two households
is statistically signicant. In 2000, single female households living with an
adult (.693) have slightly lower odds of being in the black middle class than
married-couple households with a child. In 2000, male SALA households
(.289) and those single households living with an adult (.323) have much
lower odds of being middle class when compared with married-couple
households living with a child. The formerly-married female householders
(.289) and those male householders (.300) have much lower odds of being
middle class compared to married-couple households living with a child.
A clear disparity exists between female SALA (.539) and those formerly-
Figure 2. Percent Distribution of Black Middle-Class Households, by Birth
Cohort


Figure 2. Percent Distribution of Black Middle-Class Households, by Birth Cohort

8.36
7.52 7.57
12.46
11.01
21.64
8.62
4.4
87.66
87.04
76.41
79.78
61.99
3.36
85.14
Age 25-34 Age 35-44 Age 45-54 Age 25-34 Age 35-44 Age 25-34
1980 1990 2000 1990 2000 2000
Single, Living alone (SALA) Single, Living with an Adult
Single, Living with a Child Single, Living with an Adult and Child
Ever Married
Born 1946-1955
Born 1956-1965
Born 1966-1975





18 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
married householders (.289) in relation to them being middle class when
married-couple households living with a child are the referent group. This
disparity is not evident among these same male householders. Regardless
of whether a single householder with children is man (.183) or woman
(.082), this household type still reports the lowest odds of being middle
class when compared with married-couple households living with a child.
Table 4: Logistic Regression of BMCi on Black Household Types
Ω
Table 4: Logistic Regression of BMCi on Black Household Types

1980 1990 2000
Model 1





Single Living Alone (SALA) .329*** .368*** .409***
SIngle, Living with an Adult .506*** .432*** .496***
Single, Living with a Child .075*** .053*** .088***
Single, Living with an Adult and Child .231 .166 .226
Married, Living without a Child 1.04 1.10* 1.13**
Formerly-Married .235*** .270*** .292***
Model 2 – By Gender





Female, Single, Living Alone (SALA) .466*** .437*** .539***
Male, Single, Living Alone (SALA) .231*** .306*** .289***
Female, Single, Living with an Adult .619* .599*** .693***
Male, Single, Living with an Adult .434*** .298*** .323***
Female, Single, Living with a Child .068*** .043*** .082***
Male, Single, Living with a Child .203** .288*** .183***
Single, Living with an Adult and Child .231 .166 .226
Married, Living without a Child 1.04 1.10* 1.13**
Female, Formerly-Married .222*** .253*** .289***
Male, Formerly-Married .275*** .323*** .300***
Model 3





Single, Living Alone (SALA) .314*** .390*** .459***
Single, Living with an Adult .491*** .436*** .571***
Single, Living with a Child .068*** .052*** .080***
Single, Living with an Adult and Child .225 .156 .228
Married, Living without a Child 1.15* 1.11 1.20**
Formerly- Married .202*** .226*** .261***
Model 4 – By Gender





Female, Single, Living Alone (SALA) .465*** .480*** .620***
Male, Single Living Alone (SALA) .210*** .314*** .322***
Female, Single, Living with an Adult .611* .619*** .832
Male, Single, Living with an Adult .419*** .293*** .364***
Female, Single, Living with a Child .062*** .041*** .076***
Male, Single, Living with a Child .185** .340** .152***
Single, Living with an Adult and Child .225 1.56 .228
Married, Living without a Child 1.15* 1.11 1.20**
Female, Formerly-Married .182*** .205*** .247***
Male, Formerly-Married .265*** .293*** .299***
Note: Odd Ratios Reported

Black Householders Ages 25-54

Black Householders Ages 25-44

Reference category for both models is married, living with a child
Note: *p � 0.05 **p � 0.01 ***p � 0.001
Ω
Odd Ratios Reported

Black Householders Ages 25-54

Black Householders Ages 25-44

Reference category for both models is married, living with a child
Note: *p , 0.05 **p , 0.01 ***p , 0.001

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 19
This model does suggest, however, that women living alone or with an
adult (but not those formerly-married) have greater odds than their male
counterparts of acquiring middle-class status.
Next, we ran a regression with householders ages 25-44, the results
of which are shown in models 3 and 4. Model 3 shows the same trends
and patterns are present. In Model 4, a slightly more pronounced pattern
emerges when we compare householders ages 25-44 by gender. In 2000,
married-couple households without a child (1.20) have greater odds of
being in the black middle class than married-couple households with
a child. The one similarity between the four models is that, out of all
households, married-couple households without children consistently
have the greatest odds of being middle class.
Conclusion
The Love Jones Cohort indeed exists. SALAs, one of the dening
components of the Love Jones Cohort, are increasing their share of black
households, and they are increasing their share of black middle-class
households. Furthermore, the proportion of all black households that are
SALA and middle class holds steady as the cohort ages, indicating this
is not a short-lived phenomenon among younger individuals. Although
SALAs still represent a relatively small percentage of the black middle
class overall, among those ages 25-34 in 2000, SALAs account for roughly
a quarter of black middle-class households.
In answer to the specic research questions, the data suggest that the
black middle class continues to grow when examining black households
with householders in the 25 to 54- and 25 to 44-year-old ranges, and
that the Love Jones Cohort could be the leading cause of this growth.
This study conrms that in 2000 nearly one in six black middle-class
households with householders ages 25-44 was a SALA household, and
close to one in four black middle-class households with a householder
ages 25-34 were SALAs. A possible implication is that SALAs are on a
trajectory to becoming the most prominent household within the black
middle class if not the entire black community. Although this is a bold
claim, these ndings support this notion. Social scientists can no longer
afford to overlook this group.
Our analysis positively illustrates that the Love Jones Cohort has
maintained its household status of SALA and its socioeconomic status
of black middle class for the past 20 years. Married-couple households
have decreased their share of the black middle class during this same
period. Thus the Love Jones Cohort is not only becoming the newest face
of the black middle class, it may possibly become the most pronounced
household type for this class group.

20 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
When middle-class status is operationalized by the BMCi measures
of education, occupational prestige, per person income and wealth,
a SALA household status does facilitate access into the black middle
class. This is true especially for women ages 25-44. A possible
implication of this shift is that if black women are achieving middle-class
status without marrying, marriage may not, contrary to what has been
previously believed, provide much nancial benet or produce positive
returns for professional black women in this age group. However, an
increase in the Love Jones Cohort may have negative implications for
the intergenerational wealth of the black middle class, the larger black
community and upcoming generations. Given that the Love Jones Cohort
is neither married nor has children, how and to whom are these emerging
black middle-class householders going to transfer their wealth? Can this
new black middle class reproduce itself?
These ndings suggest that the black middle class is growing in
absolute terms and also as a share of the black population, at least for
those ages 25-54. This contradicts Besharov’s (2005) claims about the
stagnation of the black middle class. Similarly, Attewell et al.’s (2004)
theory about the “economic braking effect” of declining marriage rates
entirely overlooks the correlation between the rise in SALAs and the
growth of the black middle class. Besides the number of “intact black
families” that are doing quite well (Smith and Welch 1986), the Love
Jones Cohort exists because SALAs are also doing moderately well; yet
the Love Jones Cohort is overlooked by scholars, being overshadowed in
the literature by the attention paid both to married-couple households and
to single (never-married) households with children (the much-discussed
“black single mother”).
These ndings indicate that a redenition of the black middle class
is in order. Scholars must study black households beyond single-parent
and married-couple households (Billingsley 1968; Hill 1972; Hunter
2006; Stack 1975).
Our ndings also cast tangential light on the question of the direction of
causality between marriage and class status. Our nding that single and
living-alone households (and living with another adult) are making steady
progress into the middle class challenges neoconservative claims on behalf
of marriage as an anti-poverty measure. What generalizations to draw about
the direction of causality remains an open question for blacks.
Further investigation suggested by this research might include examining
if the Love Jones Cohort is voluntarily or involuntarily choosing not to form
the kind households considered normative for middle class status (married-
couple with children). Where does the Love Jones Cohort live (Marsh and
Roseman, unpublished manuscript) and what are its motivations? Does

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 21
the Love Jones Cohort demonstrate a collective identity? And if so, how
is this identity different from the identities of the traditional black middle
class? Ethnographic and other qualitative approaches are useful tools to
pursue these questions. Such research could add signicantly to scholars’
understanding of the intersections between household type, class status
and life chances for American blacks.
Notes
1. We are not using the term “cohort” in the demographic sense of a birth cohort
but simply as a group or band of individuals that have some characteristics in
common.
2. Members of the Love Jones Cohort could potentially live alone or with other
unrelated adult(s). The U.S. Census Bureau denes non-family households
as those containing only unrelated individuals. Households with unrelated
adults, who do not have a sexual relationship, are described as housemates.
Households composed of unmarried adults encompass cohabitating
heterosexual couples or homosexual partnerships. Because we are unable
to clearly determine the nature of the relationships that fall into these
kinds of households in the census data, for this paper we classify the Love
Jones Cohort as those households that include individuals who are single
(never-married) and living alone. This classication thus eliminates some
potential Love Jones Cohort situations but is more clearly interpretable. We
initially considered calling people in these single, living-alone, middle-class
households “Buppies” – a black analogue to Yuppies. This term is often used
in a derogatory fashion to describe young professionals who are perceived
as selsh, materialistic and supercial. Given the derogatory nature of the
term, we decided on the “Love Jones Cohort” as our term.
3. This BMCi is more stringent than that used by many researchers, but it
provides stronger evidence that a new type of black middle class is emerging.
The restriction in middle-class status to those with BMCi scores of four
mostly excludes households in which all criteria are met except college
graduation. This cutoff imposes a more contemporary denition of middle
class, based on the growing importance of education in the determination of
income in the U.S. economy after its transformation from manufacturing to
service dominance. Although some middle-class positions could be attained
without college degrees in the past, achieving the security of stable middle-
class status without a four-year college degree is increasingly unlikely
(Bowser 2007; Juhn, Murphy and Pierce 1993). For this reason, households
that scored four on the BMCi will represent the black middle class in this
analysis. This classication system is similar to Ashwini Deshpande’s (2000)
caste inequality index.
4. By our criteria, a young male professional who makes more than $150,000 a
year, holds an MBA, but leases a pricey loft in the heart of downtown Chicago
would not rank as a member of the black middle class. Despite his high
income and afuent lifestyle, he does not own a home (a source of wealth).

22 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
5. OCCSCORE provides a consistent measure with which to compare labor
market outcomes from 1850 to 2000. However, OCCSCORE has four major
shortcomings. First, it does not account for changes in occupational hierarchy
across time. Second, the index does not account for variation in income within
occupations. Third, the index does not account for cost of living differences.
Finally, although the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series staff took great
care when constructing OCCSCORE, re-categorizing occupations into the
1950 classication is problematic. Occupations evolve over time, and the
census has periodically changed the occupational classication system
(Dietrich forthcoming; Ruggles et al. 2004).
6. This truncated list provides an idea of occupational prestige based on 1950
occupations: physicians, surgeons and dentists equal 70-highest; lawyers
and judges equal 60-69; airplane pilots, navigators and architects equal 50-59;
actuaries, bankers, stockbrokers, college and university administrators and
professors, school teachers, and government ofcials all equal 40-49; actors
and directors, athletes, auctioneers, machinists and miners equal 30-39; truck
and tractor drivers equal 20-29; agricultural laborers, farm workers, baggage
porters and bellhops, child care workers, gardeners, vendors, domestic
servants and nurses equal 0-19 (Darity, Dietrich and Guikley, 2001).
7. Separated, widowed and divorced householders comprise the formerly-
married household category.
8. There is some evidence that the benets of marriage are not as great for
African Americans (Broman 1993; James 2002). This nding is especially true
for black women (Blackman et al., 2005). Gender was not recoded for married
couples. Age recodes relate to the householder or reference person.
9. Although the focus of this article is black households, for comparison
purposes we calculated the BMCi for white households to see how many
more white households would be middle class. We nd that 25 percent of
white households (25-54) would be considered middle class households in
2000, up from 19 percent in 1980. These percentages are more than double
those of black households. This exercise reinforced the existence of racial
and class status inequities. White households have higher rates than black
households for all indicators. More than a third of white householders
(25-54) have four or more years of college and two-thirds own (or are buying)
a home. White households score close to three-quarters on the remaining
indicators.
10. The white SALAs grew from 1980 to 2000 but at a slower rate than black
SALAs. White SALAs (25-54) grew from 8 percent in 1980 to 11 percent
in 2000. In 2000, white SALAs (25-54) were the fourth largest household,
behind married-couples with children, formerly-married, and married-couples
without children.
11. The distribution of household types by BMCi score is shown in Appendix A
for householders ages 25-54 and in Appendix B for householders ages 25-44.

e Emerging Black Middle Class • 23
To avoid age bias in the results we performed the same calculations for
householders ages 25-74, and our ndings are consistent: SALAs constitute
a growing share of the middle class household in each decade.
12. The Love Jones Cohort is not unique to blacks but is more pronounced
for blacks than whites. In 2000, only 11 percent of white middle class
householders with the householder in the 25-44 year old range were SALAs,
up from 5 percent in 1980.
13. In this graph we collapsed married and formerly-married households
into ever-married because people can move in and out of these statuses
multiple times, confounding the comparison with the single (never-married)
households.
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e Emerging Black Middle Class • 27
Appendix A. Black Households by BMCi Score and Household Type


Appendix A. Black Households by BMCi Score and Household Type

1980
0 1 2 3 4
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 7 10 10 8 5
Single, Living with an Adult 2 2 3 3 2
Single, Living with a Child 19 7 3 1 1
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 3 3 3 1 1
Married, Living without a Child 3 6 10 15 16
Married, Living with a Child 14 28 39 53 60
Formerly-Married 52 44 33 20 16
Total 100 100 100 100 100
1990
0 1 2 3 4
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 9 11 11 10 7
Single, Living with an Adult 2 3 4 4 3
SIngle, Living with a Child 29 12 5 2 1
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 5 6 4 3 1
Married, Living without a Child 2 5 10 16 17
Married, Living with a Child 11 22 32 43 52
Formerly-Married 43 41 33 22 18
Total 100 100 100 100 100
2000
0 1 2 3 4
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 14 14 15 14 11
Single, Living with an Adult 3 3 5 5 4
Single, Living with a Child 30 17 8 4 3
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 6 7 5 4 3
Married, Living without a Child 2 5 9 15 18
Married, Living with a Child 8 18 26 34 43
Formerly-Married 37 35 32 24 18
Total 100 100 100 100 100

Black Householders Ages 25-54

Black Householders Ages 25-54

28 • Social Forces Volume 86, Number 2 • December 2007
Appendix B. Black Households by BMCi Score and Household Type

Appendix B. Black Households by BMCi Score and Household Type

1980
0 1 2 3 4
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 7 11 11 10 6
Single, Living with an Adult 1 2 3 3 2
Single, Living with a Child 22 9 3 1 1
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 4 4 3 2 1
Married, Living without a Child 2 4 7 10 12
Married, Living with a Child 15 30 41 55 65
Formerly-Married 49 40 30 18 13
Total 100 100 100 100 100
1990
0 1 2 3 4
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 8 11 13 13 9
Single, Living with an Adult 2 3 5 5 3
Single, Living with a Child 33 15 6 3 2
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 6 8 5 3 2
Married, Living without a Child 1 4 8 10 12
Married, Living with a Child 11 24 35 46 58
Formerly-Married 38 35 28 20 14
Total 100 100 100 100 100
2000
0 1 2 3 4
Single, Living Alone (SALA) 13 14 17 17 14
Single, Living with an Adult 3 4 5 6 5
Single, Living with a Child 37 22 10 5 3
Single, Living with an Adult and Child 7 9 7 6 3
Married, Living without a Child 2 3 6 10 12
Married, Living with a Child 9 20 29 38 48
Formerly-Married 29 29 26 19 14
Total 100 100 100 100 100
Note: Black Householders Ages 25-44
Note: Black Householders Ages 25-44