Middle-income Americans are feeling the squeeze

A Pew Research Center survey found 71% of middle-income earners have cut back on spending on extras, such as eating out. andresr/Getty Images A Pew Research survey found only 47% of middle-income earners could save money in the past year.

Lower-income earners are also having a hard time saving and affording necessities.

Inflation moving in the wrong direction doesn't help the affordability situation.

America's middle earners are feeling the squeeze.

A new analysis from the Pew Research Center examines how Americans' finances are faring, an especially salient topic in a midterm season where affordability is very much on the ballot.

America's middle earners — those who make between $50,700 and $152,000 after adjusting for their family sizes and the cost of living in their areas — increasingly don't have enough saved for an emergency.

Just over half of middle-income Americans say they don't have rainy-day funds that would cover expenses for three months in the event of an emergency.

Meanwhile, 47% of middle-income earners — and a measly 24% of lower-income earners — reported being able to save money in the past year.

Across all income tiers, the majority of respondents said they had cut back spending on extras like eating out or streaming services .

Those dwindling emergency funds and sacrifices might be due to rising costs, which often take a particularly large bite out of lower-earners' wallets.

It could be getting worse; inflation is moving in the wrong direction.

In September, the consumer price index inflation rate rose from 3.4% to 3.7%, just above the 3.6% forecast.

Plus, inflation-adjusted wages have been falling for six months.

Today's economy is still more difficult for those at the bottom of the earnings ladder.