In the first quarter of 2025, almost ********** of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of earners. In comparison, the lowest ** percent of earners only owned *** percent of the total wealth. Income inequality in the U.S. Despite the idea that the United States is a country where hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps will inevitably lead to success, this is often not the case. In 2024, *** percent of U.S. households had an annual income under 15,000 U.S. dollars. With such a small percentage of people in the United States owning such a vast majority of the country’s wealth, the gap between the rich and poor in America remains stark. The top one percent The United States was the country with the most billionaires in the world in 2025. Elon Musk, with a net worth of *** billion U.S. dollars, was among the richest people in the United States in 2025. Over the past 50 years, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has exploded, causing the gap between rich and poor to grow, with some economists theorizing that this gap is the largest it has been since right before the Great Depression.

Graph and download economic data for Household Count in the 90th to 99th Wealth Percentiles (WFRBLN09303) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about wealth, percentile, households, and USA.

The total financial assets of households and nonprofit organizations in the United States grew steadily since 2000, albeit with some fluctuations. The value of household financial assets increased from around 34.34 trillion U.S. dollars in 2000 to around 130.38 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024.

In the first quarter of 2025, 51.4 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by members of the baby boomer generation. In comparison, millennials own around 10.3 percent of total wealth in the U.S. In terms of population distribution, there was almost an equal share of millennials and baby boomers in the United States in 2024.

Graph and download economic data for Households and Nonprofit Organizations; Net Worth as a Percentage of Disposable Personal Income, Level (HNONWPDPI) from Q4 1946 to Q2 2025 about disposable, net worth, nonprofit organizations, personal income, Net, percent, households, personal, income, and USA.

Inequality in family wealth is high, yet we know little about how much and how wealth inequality is maintained across generations. We argue that a long-term perspective reflective of wealth’s cumulative nature is crucial to understand the extent and channels of wealth reproduction across generations. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics that span nearly half a century, we show that a one decile increase in parental wealth position is associated with an increase of about 4 percentiles in offspring wealth position in adulthood. We show that grandparental wealth is a unique predictor of grandchildren’s wealth, above and beyond the role of parental wealth, suggesting that a focus on only parent-child dyads understates the importance of family wealth lineages. Second, considering five channels of wealth transmission — gifts and bequests, education, marriage, homeownership, and business ownership — we find that most of the advantages arising from family wealth begin much earlier in the life-course than the common focus on bequests implies, even when we consider the wealth of grandparents. We also document the stark disadvantage of African-American households in terms of not only their wealth attainment but also their intergenerational downward wealth mobility compared to whites.

In 2024, the median household income in the United States was 83,730 U.S. dollars. This reflected an increase from the previous year. Household income The median household income depicts the income of households, including the income of the householder and all other individuals aged 15 years or over living in the household. Income includes wages and salaries, unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support payments received, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely. The median household income in the United States varied from state to state. In 2024, Massachusetts recorded the highest median household income in the country, at 113,900 U.S. dollars. On the other hand, Mississippi, recorded the lowest, at 55,980 U.S. dollars.Household income is also used to determine the poverty rate in the United States. In 2024, 10.6 percent of the U.S. population was living below the national poverty line. This was the lowest level since 2019. Similarly, the child poverty rate, which represents people under the age of 18 living in poverty, reached a three-decade low of 14.3 percent of the children. The state with the widest gap between the rich and the poor was New York, with a Gini coefficient score of 0.52 in 2024. The Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality, while a score of one indicates complete inequality.

Graph and download economic data for Minimum Wealth Cutoff for the 99th to 99.9th Wealth Percentiles (WFRBL99T999309) from Q3 1989 to Q3 2022 about wealth, percentile, and USA.

View quarterly updates and historical trends for US Total Net Worth - Balance Sheet of Households and Nonprofit Organizations. from United States. Source:…

In 2024, the Gini coefficient of household income distribution in the United States was 0.49. This figure was at 0.43 in 1990, which indicates an increase in income inequality in the U.S. over the past 30 years. What is the Gini coefficient? The Gini coefficient, or Gini index, is a statistical measure of economic inequality and wealth distribution among a population. A value of zero represents perfect economic equality, and a value of one represents perfect economic inequality. Within the United States, the District of Columbia and the state of New York had the largest income gap between earners by Gini Index of about 0.52. Utah, on the other hand, had the greatest income equality with a score of 0.42. The Gini coefficient around the world The Gini coefficient is also an effective measure of income inequality around the world. In 2024, income inequality was highest in South Africa. Slovakia and Slovenia were on the other end of the scale, with high levels of income equality.

Graph and download economic data for Net Worth Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLT01026) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

In 2024, the mean household income of the bottom quintile in the United States was 18,460 U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, the top five percent of households brought in 560,000 U.S. dollars. Since the 1990s, the gap between top and bottom earners has widened. Among all households, the Gini index measure for income inequality has also increased.

This statistic shows a comparison of the median net worth of U.S. households in 1984 and 2009 for two age groups: young families, where the householder is younger than 35, and mostly retired households, where the householder is 65 or older. The median net worth of young households has decreased from 11,521 U.S. dollars in 1984 to 3,662 U.S. dollars in 2009.

In the United States, the median income for Black households in 2024 was 56,020 U.S. dollars. This represented a significant drop from the previous year. Since 1990, the median income of African American households grew from 40,820 U.S. dollars (adjusted to 2024 values).

About this dataset

Context

The dataset presents the distribution of median household income among distinct age brackets of householders in United States. Based on the latest 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates from the American Community Survey, it displays how income varies among householders of different ages in United States. It showcases how household incomes typically rise as the head of the household gets older. The dataset can be utilized to gain insights into age-based household income trends and explore the variations in incomes across households.

Key observations: Insights from 2023

In terms of income distribution across age cohorts, in United States, householders within the 45 to 64 years age group have the highest median household income at $94,847, followed by those in the 25 to 44 years age group with an income of $87,575. Meanwhile householders within the 65 years and over age group report the second lowest median household income of $57,108. Notably, householders within the under 25 years age group, had the lowest median household income at $43,534.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates. All incomes have been adjusting for inflation and are presented in 2023-inflation-adjusted dollars.

Age groups classifications include:

• Under 25 years
• 25 to 44 years
• 45 to 64 years
• 65 years and over

Variables / Data Columns

• Age Of The Head Of Household: This column presents the age of the head of household
• Median Household Income: Median household income, in 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars for the specific age group

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for United States median household income by age. You can refer the same here

The estimated median household income and estimated median family income are two separate measures: every family is a household, but not every household is a family. According to the U.S. Census Bureau definitions of the terms, a family “includes a householder and one or more people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption,”[1] while a household “includes all the people who occupy a housing unit,” including households of just one person[2]. When evaluated together, the estimated median household income and estimated median family income provide a thorough picture of household-level economics in Champaign County.

Both estimated median household income and estimated median family income were higher in 2024 than in 2005. The change in estimated median household income between 2023 and 2024 was not statistically significant. However, the increase in estimated median family income between 2023 and 2024 was statistically significant. Estimated median family income is consistently higher than estimated median household income, largely due to the definitions of each term, and the types of household that are measured and are not measured in each category.

Median income data was sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) 1-Year Estimates, which are released annually.

As with any datasets that are estimates rather than exact counts, it is important to take into account the margins of error (listed in the column beside each figure) when drawing conclusions from the data.

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, instead of providing the standard 1-year data products, the Census Bureau released experimental estimates from the 1-year data. This includes a limited number of data tables for the nation, states, and the District of Columbia. The Census Bureau states that the 2020 ACS 1-year experimental tables use an experimental estimation methodology and should not be compared with other ACS data. For these reasons, and because data is not available for Champaign County, no data for 2020 is included in this Indicator.

For interested data users, the 2020 ACS 1-Year Experimental data release includes datasets on Median Household Income in the Past 12 Months (in 2020 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) and Median Family Income in the Past 12 Months (in 2020 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars).

[1] U.S. Census Bureau. (Date unknown). Glossary. “Family Household.” (Accessed 19 April 2016).

[2] U.S. Census Bureau. (Date unknown). Glossary. “Household.” (Accessed 19 April 2016).

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2024 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (2 December 2025).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2023 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (17 October 2024).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2022 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (18 September 2023).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2021 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (3 October 2022).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (7 June 2021).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2018 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using data.census.gov; (7 June 2021).;U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (13 September 2018).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (14 September 2017).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2015 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (19 September 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2014 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2013 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2011 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2009 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2008 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2007 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2006 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2005 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table S1903; generated by CCRPC staff; using American FactFinder; (16 March 2016).

About this dataset

Context

The dataset presents median household incomes for various household sizes in United States, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. The dataset highlights the variation in median household income with the size of the family unit, offering valuable insights into economic trends and disparities within different household sizes, aiding in data analysis and decision-making.

Key observations

• Of the 7 household sizes (1 person to 7-or-more person households) reported by the census bureau, all of the household sizes were found in United States. Across the different household sizes in United States the mean income is $94,149, and the standard deviation is $26,829. The coefficient of variation (CV) is 28.50%. This high CV indicates high relative variability, suggesting that the incomes vary significantly across different sizes of households.
• In the most recent year, 2021, The smallest household size for which the bureau reported a median household income was 1-person households, with an income of $38,463. It then further increased to $114,329 for 7-person households, the largest household size for which the bureau reported a median household income.

https://i.neilsberg.com/ch/united-states-median-household-income-by-household-size.jpeg" alt="United States median household income, by household size (in 2022 inflation-adjusted dollars)">

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2017-2021 5-Year Estimates.

Household Sizes:

• 1-person households
• 2-person households
• 3-person households
• 4-person households
• 5-person households
• 6-person households
• 7-or-more-person households

Variables / Data Columns

• Household Size: This column showcases 7 household sizes ranging from 1-person households to 7-or-more-person households (As mentioned above).
• Median Household Income: Median household income, in 2022 inflation-adjusted dollars for the specific household size.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for United States median household income. You can refer the same here

The Distributional Financial Accounts (DFAs) provide a quarterly measure of the distribution of U.S. household wealth since 1989, based on a comprehensive integration of disaggregated household-level wealth data with official aggregate wealth measures. The data set contains the level and share of each balance sheet item on the Financial Accounts' household wealth table (Table B.101.h), for various sub-populations in the United States. In our core data set, aggregate household wealth is allocated to each of four percentile groups of wealth: the top 1 percent, the next 9 percent (i.e., 90th to 99th percentile), the next 40 percent (50th to 90th percentile), and the bottom half (below the 50th percentile). Additionally, the data set contains the level and share of aggregate household wealth by income, age, generation, education, and race. The quarterly frequency makes the data useful for studying the business cycle dynamics of wealth concentration--which are typically difficult to observe in lower-frequency data because peaks and troughs often fall between times of measurement. These data will be updated about 10 or 11 weeks after the end of each quarter, making them a timely measure of the distribution of wealth.

About this dataset

Context

The dataset presents the mean household income for each of the five quintiles in United States, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. The dataset highlights the variation in mean household income across quintiles, offering valuable insights into income distribution and inequality.

Key observations

• Income disparities: The mean income of the lowest quintile (20% of households with the lowest income) is 16,840, while the mean income for the highest quintile (20% of households with the highest income) is 285,351. This indicates that the top earners earn 17 times compared to the lowest earners.
• *Top 5%: * The mean household income for the wealthiest population (top 5%) is 515,555, which is 180.67% higher compared to the highest quintile, and 3061.49% higher compared to the lowest quintile.

Content

When available, the data consists of estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 2019-2023 5-Year Estimates.

Income Levels:

• Lowest Quintile
• Second Quintile
• Third Quintile
• Fourth Quintile
• Highest Quintile
• Top 5 Percent

Variables / Data Columns

• Income Level: This column showcases the income levels (As mentioned above).
• Mean Household Income: Mean household income, in 2023 inflation-adjusted dollars for the specific income level.

Good to know

Margin of Error

Data in the dataset are based on the estimates and are subject to sampling variability and thus a margin of error. Neilsberg Research recommends using caution when presening these estimates in your research.

Custom data

If you do need custom data for any of your research project, report or presentation, you can contact our research staff at research@neilsberg.com for a feasibility of a custom tabulation on a fee-for-service basis.

Inspiration

Neilsberg Research Team curates, analyze and publishes demographics and economic data from a variety of public and proprietary sources, each of which often includes multiple surveys and programs. The large majority of Neilsberg Research aggregated datasets and insights is made available for free download at https://www.neilsberg.com/research/.

Recommended for further research

This dataset is a part of the main dataset for United States median household income. You can refer the same here

United States Household Income: $100,000 to $149,999 data was reported at 14.500 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 14.400 % for 2016. United States Household Income: $100,000 to $149,999 data is updated yearly, averaging 13.100 % from Mar 1967 (Median) to 2017, with 51 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 15.000 % in 1999 and a record low of 6.500 % in 1967. United States Household Income: $100,000 to $149,999 data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by US Census Bureau. The data is categorized under Global Database’s USA – Table US.H049: Household Income: by Income Level.