Here's How the Faces of the Rich and the Poor Differ, According to Research

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - It turns out that a person’s wealth can be seen from their face. This was discovered in a study from the University of Toronto.

The study used black and white photos of subjects with neutral expressions and no accessories. There were 80 photos of men and 80 photos of women.

The subjects consisted of 50% wealthy people and the rest were working class. The photos were shown to other people and they were asked to guess their social class.

More than half (68%) answered correctly. They also didn’t realise why they could guess. “When asked how, they didn’t know. They didn’t realise how they could guess correctly,” said R-Thora Bjorsdottir, the researcher of the study, as quoted by CNBC Make It, Saturday (16/5/2026).

Then they researched by enlarging facial features. Many correct answers were obtained just by looking at the eyes and mouth.

According to the research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, wealthy people tend to have happier and less anxious faces. In contrast, poor people tend to have more stressed faces.

“The relationship between wealth and social class has been widely discussed in previous research. However, this study found that differences in a person’s wealth can be reflected in each person’s face,” she said.

The research says that people with a lot of money tend to be happier. They are also less anxious compared to people who have to meet their needs.

However, another researcher, Nicholas O. Rule, explained that there are negative consequences when many people guess social class just by looking at their face. For example, treating people with rich faces differently.

“Face-based perceptions of social class may have important consequences… We know there is something called the cycle of poverty and this could potentially be one of its contributors,” said Rule.