The NRS social grades are a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. They were originally developed by the National Readership Survey in order to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market research.[1] They were developed over 50 years ago and achieved widespread usage in 20th Century Britain. Their definition is now maintained by the Market Research Society.[2]
The distinguishing feature of social grade is that it is based on occupation.
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The classifications are based on the occupation of the head of the household.[1]
| Grade | Social class | Chief income earner's occupation |
|---|---|---|
| A | upper middle class | Higher managerial, administrative or professional |
| B | middle class | Intermediate managerial, administrative or professional |
| C1 | lower middle class | Supervisory or clerical and junior managerial, administrative or professional |
| C2 | skilled working class | Skilled manual workers |
| D | working class | Semi and unskilled manual workers |
| E | Those at the lowest levels of subsistence | Casual or lowest grade workers, pensioners and others who depend on the welfare state for their income |
The grades are often grouped into ABC1 and C2DE and these are taken to equate to middle class and working class respectively. Only around 2% of the UK population identifies as upper class,[3] and this group is not included in the classification scheme.
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