The low economic status of the migrant ranch hands is shown in the economic plight of George and Lennie as the book opens. They are living so marginally that they don't even have the ketchup Lennie likes with his beans. George and Lennie have the following conversation about this topic:

"I got three cans of beans in my bindle. You get a fire ready. I'll give you a match when you get the sticks together. Then we'll heat the beans and have supper."

Lennie said, "I like beans with ketchup."

"Well, we ain't got no ketchup."

Later, when George meets Curley and becomes uneasy about the situation on their ranch, he tells Lennie that for 25¢, he'd leave: but they need a few dollars to do so. In other words, they are nearly broke. The alternative George envisions to migrant labor for them is the very uncertain job of panning for bits of gold in a stream. They clearly do not have a good range of options:

For two bits I'd shove out of here. If we can get jus' a few dollars in the poke we'll shove off and go up the American River and pan gold. We can make maybe a couple of dollars a day there, and we might hit a pocket.

The farm that George and Lennie dream of having also highlights their lower-class economic plight. For example, they dream of not having to do hard labor eleven hours a day to survive:

We wouldn't have to buck no barley eleven hours a day.

Their lower-class status is also shown through their lack of privacy, lack of ability to choose their companions, and lack of opportunity to show hospitality, all features of life that people of higher economic status take for granted. George says of the dream farm,

An' it'd be our own, an' nobody could can us. If we don't like a guy we can say, "Get the hell out," and by God he's got to do it. An' if a fren' come along, why we'd have an extra bunk, an' we'd say, "Why don't you spen' the night?" an' by God he would.

As is often the case with people of the lowest economic status, they have little control over their space, having to share a bunkhouse with whoever happens to be hired. George and Lennie have only a bunk apiece and a crate for their belongings. Curley has the right to enter their space any time. Their reality is that they have only the minimum resources needed for survival.

In chapter 4, Lennie and Candy enter Crooks's room and have a discussion about one day owning their own homestead. Crooks responds by telling Candy,

"You guys is just kiddin' yourself. You'll talk about it a hell of a lot, but you won't get no land . . . Hell, I seen too many guys. Lennie here'll quit an' be on the road in two, three weeks. Seems like ever' guy got land in his head." (Steinbeck, 37)

Crooks understands the reality of each man's situation on the farm and has yet to see a worker with enough money saved up to buy their own piece of land. Migrant workers like George and Lennie are never able to save up enough money to attain their dreams. They are forced to live a transient lifestyle and travel from one farm to the next in hopes of making enough money to survive. Candy responds to Crooks by saying,

"Sure they all want it. Everybody wants a little bit of land, not much. Jus' som'thin' that was his. Som'thin' he could live on and there couldn't nobody throw him off of it. I never had none. I planted crops for damn near ever'body in this state, but they wasn't my crops, and when I harvested 'em, it wasn't none of my harvest." (Steinbeck, 37)

Candy's comment illustrates the lower economic status of the workers on the farm. They are stuck working for wealthier landowners and never save enough money to climb the social ladder. Like the other workers on the farm, Candy remains in the lower class and can only dream of one day owning his own homestead. Crooks is also aware that the workers spend most of their money on drinks and girls, which makes their dreams even harder to reach.