Wealth inequality in the United States

The inequality of wealth (i.e. inequality in the distribution of assets) has substantially increased in the United States in recent decades.^[2] Wealth commonly includes the values of any homes, automobiles, personal valuables, businesses, savings, and investments, as well as any associated debts.^[3][4]

Although different from income inequality, the two are related. Wealth is usually not used for daily expenditures or factored into household budgets, but combined with income, it represents a family's total opportunity to secure stature and a meaningful standard of living, or to pass their class status down to their children.^[5] Moreover, wealth provides for both short- and long-term financial security, bestows social prestige, contributes to political power, and can be leveraged to obtain more wealth.^[6] Hence, wealth provides mobility and agency—the ability to act. The accumulation of wealth enables a variety of freedoms, and removes limits on life that one might otherwise face.

Federal Reserve data indicates that as of Q4 2021, the top 1% of households in the United States held 30.9% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.6%.^[7] From 1989 to 2019, wealth became increasingly concentrated in the top 1% and top 10% due in large part to corporate stock ownership concentration in those segments of the population; the bottom 50% own little if any corporate stock.^[8] From an international perspective, the difference in the US median and mean wealth per adult is over 600%.^[9] A 2011 study found that US citizens across the political spectrum dramatically underestimate the current level of wealth inequality in the US, and would prefer a far more egalitarian distribution of wealth.^[10]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the wealth held by billionaires in the U.S. increased by 70%,^[11] with 2020 marking the steepest increase in billionaires' share of wealth on record.^[12]