Graph and download economic data for Share of Net Worth Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01134) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about net worth, wealth, percentile, Net, and USA.

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.

In 2025, just over 45 percent of American households had an annual income that was less than 75,000 U.S. dollars. On the other hand, some 16 percent had an annual income of 200,000 U.S. dollars or more. The median household income in the country reached almost 84,000 U.S. dollars in 2024. Income and wealth in the United States After the economic recession in 2009, income inequality in the U.S. is more prominent across many metropolitan areas. The Northeast region is regarded as one of the wealthiest in the country. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maryland were among the states with the highest median household income in 2024. In terms of income by race and ethnicity, the average income of Asian households was highest, at over 120,000 U.S. dollars, while the median income among Black households was around half of that figure. What is the U.S. poverty threshold? The U.S. Census Bureau annually updates the poverty threshold based on the income of various household types. As of 2023, the threshold for a single-person household was 15,480 U.S. dollars. For a family of four, the poverty line increased to 31,200 U.S. dollars. There were an estimated 38.9 million people living in poverty across the United States in 2024, which reflects a poverty rate of 10.6 percent.

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.

Graph and download economic data for Minimum Wealth Cutoff for the Top 0.1% (99.9th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBLTP1311) from Q3 1989 to Q3 2022 about wealth, percentile, and USA.

In the third quarter of 2024, the top ten percent of earners in the United States held over ** percent of total wealth. This is fairly consistent with the second quarter of 2024. Comparatively, the wealth of the bottom ** percent of earners has been slowly increasing since the start of the *****, though remains low. Wealth distribution in the United States by generation can be found here.

Graph and download economic data for Share of Financial Assets Held by the Top 1% (99th to 100th Wealth Percentiles) (WFRBST01112) from Q3 1989 to Q2 2025 about wealth, percentile, financial, assets, and USA.

Over ** million individuals residing in the United States belonged to the global top one percent of ultra-high net worth individuals worldwide in 2022. China ranked second, with over **** million top one percent wealth holders globally. France followed in third.

In 2024, about 44.7 percent of White households in the United States had an annual median income of over 100,000 U.S. dollars. By comparison, only 26.8 percent of Black households were in this income group. Asian Americans, on the other hand, had the highest median income per household that year.

Inequality remains woven into America’s economic fabric, fuelling public debate and shaping politics. In 2024, the richest fifth of U.S. households captured more than half of national income, while the poorest secured a just 3.1 percent. This stark contrast highlights the concentration of wealth among high-income households. Measuring income inequality The Gini coefficient, a standard measure of income inequality, has steadily risen over the past three decades. In 1990, the Gini coefficient for households in the United States stood at 0.43, but by 2024 it had increased to 0.49. This upward trend indicates a growing gap between the rich and poor. Among state, the District of Columbia and New York exhibited the greatest income inequality. Utah, on the other hand, recorded the smallest wealth gap. Income inequality across demographics Income disparities are also drawn along ethnic and racial lines. In 2024, Asian households in the United States had the highest median annual income, followed by White households. Black Americans and American Indian and Alaska Native families had comparatively lower household incomes. The overall median income for U.S. households reached nearly 84,000 U.S. dollars that year. These figures highlight the persistent economic gaps among various racial and ethnic groups in America.

The Income Distributions and Dynamics in America project seeks to foster new research and analysis on income disparities by providing statistics on income percentiles, shares, growth rates, persistence, and more for many U.S. demographic groups at national and state levels.

files included 1. Percentiles of income module 2. Top income shares module 3. Top income population shares module 4. Income change distributions module 5. Income transition matrix module

Kondo, Illenin, Brandon Hawkins, Kevin Rinz, John Voorheis, Andrew Goodman-Bacon, Natalie Gubbay, and Abigail Wozniak. (2023). Income Distributions and Dynamics in America: Version 1.0 [Dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. https://doi.org/10.21034/data.idda

U.S. Top 1% Wealth Share - Historical chart and current data through 2025.

In 2022, about 14.88 million households in the United States had an income of 200,000 U.S. dollars or more a year. Another 20.77 million households however, had an income of less than 25,000 U.S. dollars in the same year, The total number of households in the U.S. since 1960 can be found here.

In 2022, San Francisco had the highest median household income of cities ranking within the top 25 in terms of population, with a median household income in of 136,692 U.S. dollars. In that year, San Jose in California was ranked second, and Seattle, Washington third.

Following a fall after the great recession, median household income in the United States has been increasing in recent years. As of 2022, median household income by state was highest in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Utah, and Massachusetts. It was lowest in Mississippi, West Virginia, and Arkansas. Families with an annual income of 25,000 and 49,999 U.S. dollars made up the largest income bracket in America, with about 25.26 million households.

Data on median household income can be compared to statistics on personal income in the U.S. released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Personal income rose to around 21.8 trillion U.S. dollars in 2022, the highest value recorded. Personal income is a measure of the total income received by persons from all sources, while median household income is “the amount with divides the income distribution into two equal groups,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Half of the population in question lives above median income and half lives below. Though total personal income has increased in recent years, this wealth is not distributed throughout the population. In practical terms, income of most households has decreased. One additional statistic illustrates this disparity: for the lowest quintile of workers, mean household income has remained more or less steady for the past decade at about 13 to 16 thousand constant U.S. dollars annually. Meanwhile, income for the top five percent of workers has actually risen from about 285,000 U.S. dollars in 1990 to about 499,900 U.S. dollars in 2020.

In 2023, roughly 1.49 billion adults worldwide had a net worth of less than 10,000 U.S. dollars. By comparison, 58 million adults had a net worth of more than one million U.S. dollars in the same year. Wealth distribution The distribution of wealth is an indicator of economic inequality. The United Nations says that wealth includes the sum of natural, human, and physical assets. Wealth is not synonymous with income, however, because having a large income can be depleted if one has significant expenses. In 2023, nearly 1,700 billionaires had a total wealth between one to two billion U.S. dollars. Wealth worldwide China had the highest number of billionaires in 2023, with the United States following behind. That same year, New York had the most billionaires worldwide.

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.

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.

. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provides Average Weekly Earnings in USD. Monthly Earnings include Private Non Agricultural sector only.


Further information about United States Monthly Earnings

• In the latest reports, US Population reached 341 million people in Dec 2024
• Unemployment Rate of US increased to 4 % in Sep 2025
• The country's Labour Force Participation Rate remained the same rate at 62 % in Sep 2025

In 2023, the real median household income for householders aged 15 to 24 was at 54,930 U.S. dollars. The highest median household income was found amongst those aged between 45 and 54. Household median income for the United States since 1990 can be accessed here.