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🇺🇸 United States — Wealth Distribution
Wealth share by population group (2023)
Hover overTap each group for details
Zoom in to see the top
Population vs. Wealth — United States
Population share
Wealth share
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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
34.8%
of total national wealth
The bottom 50% shares just
1.0%
of total national wealth
Wealth Gini coefficient
0.83
0 = perfect equality, 1 = one person owns everything
Mean wealth per adult
$511K
Skewed upward by the ultra-wealthy
Median wealth per adult
$81K
What the typical person actually has
Mean / Median ratio
6.3x
Higher = more skewed distribution
What Does It Take to Join Each Group?
Estimated minimum net wealth to enter each wealth bracket in United States.
Top 50%
$81K
Top 10%
$1.7M
Top 1%
$5.3M
Top 0.1%
$28.3M
Thresholds are estimates based on Pareto-interpolated WID.world data.
A median income earner in United States would need to work for
351 years
to accumulate the average wealth of the top 1%
Based on median pre-tax national income of $50,704/year vs. average top 1% wealth of $17.8M
Income vs. Wealth: The Double Gap
Income Distribution
Gini (income): 0.59
Wealth Distribution
Gini (wealth): 0.83
The Global Picture
Global top 1% owns
42.0%
of all global wealth
Global bottom 50% owns
0.9%
of all global wealth
Global wealth Gini
0.88
Among the highest of any metric measured
Source: WID.world — World Inequality Database (2023)
United States in Regional Context
Americas
$53K
median wealth (USD)
United States's region
Europe
$111K
median wealth (USD)
Asia-Pacific
$19K
median wealth (USD)
Regional aggregates are population-weighted averages of covered countries.
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.
Wealth and income distribution data for 100+ countries. Uses tax records, surveys, and national accounts to produce the most comprehensive inequality database available.
Chancel, L., Piketty, T., Saez, E., Zucman, G. (2022). World Inequality Report 2022.
Accessed: 2026
Daily tracking of the world's wealthiest individuals. Net worth figures are estimates based on stock prices, exchange rates, and reported assets.
Accessed: 2026
Average annual wages, tax statistics, and economic indicators for OECD member countries.
Accessed: 2026
Consumer price indices, GDP, and development indicators for all countries.
Accessed: 2026
House price indices (BIS residential property prices) and other economic time series.
Accessed: 2026
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.