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🇺🇸 United States — Wealth Distribution

Wealth share by population group (2023)

Zoom:
Wealth share
Population share
Click any group for details

Population vs. Wealth — United States

Population share

Middle 40%
Bottom 50%

Wealth share

34.9%
36.2%
27.4%
Top 1%: 34.9% of wealth
Next 9%: 36.2% of wealth
Middle 40%: 27.4% of wealth
Bottom 50%: 1.5% of wealth

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The Scale of Concentration

Each rectangle below represents wealth. The area shows how much each group actually owns. Look at who has what.

The Numbers That Define Inequality

The top 1% in United States owns

0.0%

of total national wealth

The bottom 50% shares just

0.0%

of total national wealth

Wealth Gini coefficient

0.00

0 = perfect equality, 1 = one person owns everything

Mean wealth per adult

$551K

Skewed upward by the ultra-wealthy

Median wealth per adult

$108K

What the typical person actually has

Mean / Median ratio

0.0x

Higher = more skewed distribution

A median income earner in United States would need to work for

0 years

to accumulate the average wealth of the top 1%

Based on median income of $40,480/year vs. average top 1% wealth of $19.2M

Income vs. Wealth: The Double Gap

Income Distribution

Top 1%21.4%
Top 10%46.4%
Middle 40%40.6%
Bottom 50%13.0%

Gini (income): 0.48

Wealth Distribution

Top 1%34.9%
Top 10%71.1%
Middle 40%27.4%
Bottom 50%1.5%

Gini (wealth): 0.85

The Global Picture

Global top 1% owns

0.0%

of all global wealth

Global bottom 50% owns

0.0%

of all global wealth

Global wealth Gini

0.00

Among the highest of any metric measured

Source: World Inequality Report 2022 & WID.world 2024 update

Who Actually Pays?

Effective tax rates tell a different story than statutory rates. When you account for all taxes actually paid — including how investment income, capital gains, and corporate structures are treated — the system often becomes regressive at the very top.

A Century of Change

How wealth concentration in United States has evolved — and what policy choices drove each shift.

Are Wages Keeping Up?

Wages, consumer prices, and house prices — all indexed to 2000. When the lines diverge, someone is falling behind.

Data Sources & Methodology

All data in this visualization comes from peer-reviewed academic research and official statistical databases. Wealth shares refer to personal net wealth (assets minus debts) among the adult population (20+), using the equal-split method for couples.

World Inequality Database (WID.world)

Primary source for wealth and income shares by percentile. Maintained by the World Inequality Lab (Chancel, Piketty, Saez, Zucman et al.). Data covers 200+ countries with historical series going back to 1820 for some nations.

Accessed: 2024

World Inequality Report 2022

Comprehensive analysis of global inequality trends. Provides the global aggregate figures used in this visualization.

Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., Zucman, G. (2022). "World Inequality Report 2022." World Inequality Lab.

OECD Wealth Distribution Database

Cross-country comparable wealth and income distribution data. Used for validation and supplementary Gini coefficients.

Accessed: December 2024

Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) v9.6

Provides standardized Gini coefficients for market and disposable income across countries and time.

Solt, Frederick. 2024. SWIID Version 9.6. https://fsolt.org/swiid/

Saez & Zucman (2016)

US historical wealth concentration estimates since 1913. Foundational research for US wealth data in WID.world.

Saez, E. & Zucman, G. (2016). "Wealth Inequality in the United States since 1913." Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131(2), 519-578.

Piketty (2014)

Historical wealth data for France and cross-country comparisons spanning two centuries.

Piketty, T. (2014). Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Harvard University Press.

This visualization is for educational purposes. Wealth inequality measurement involves complex methodological choices. Different definitions of wealth, unit of analysis, and data sources can produce varying estimates. For the most up-to-date data, visit WID.world.

Built with publicly available data. No personal data is collected or stored.