Inequality in America
Contents
Wealth
Inequality | Income
Inequality | The
Rich and Super-Rich | Poverty
Wealth
Inequality
'Wealth' refers to total net worth or total assets,
including financial assets (such as cash, stocks, etc.) and other
assets (such as house). Wealth is different from 'income'
which is the annual amount of money earned in a year. Most of
the wealth calculations are based on 'households', and average
household sizes are 3 people.
Most of the facts are from: Edward N.
Wolff, "Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership, 1983-1998," April
2000. Table 2. (Courtesy, United For a Fair Economy)
Share
of national wealth by percentage of population. - Edward N.
Wolff, "Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership, 1983-1998," April
2000 (Original graph by Devesh Kumar)
Top Facts
The top 1% of Americans own as much wealth as the
bottom 95% percent.
Source: Edward N.
Wolff, "Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership, 1983-1998," April
2000.
The total wealth owned by the top 1% of Americans is
equivalent to 200 times the total combined wealth of the bottom
40%. (Or, the top 1% owns 200 times the wealth of the
bottom 40%
The total wealth of the top 60% of Americans is
500 times the total wealth of the bottom 40%.
Bill Gates, America's richest individual, alone has
more wealth than 40% of the U.S. population combined, or 120 million
people.
The top 1% of households own almost 40% of the
nation's wealth. The top 10% of Americans own over 70% of
nation's wealth. The top 20% of the nation's households own 85%
of the nation's total wealth. The top 60% of households own
almost 100%, or 99.8%, of the nation's wealth.
The bottom 40% of households own one-fifth of 1% (or
0.2%) of the nation's wealth.
The bottom 80% of Americans own only 15% of the
nation's wealth.
Other Facts
The total wealth owned by the top 1% of Americans is
equivalent to 200 times the total combined wealth of the bottom
40%. (Or, the top 1% owns 200 times the wealth of the
bottom 40%
The total wealth of the top 60% of Americans is
500 times the total wealth of the bottom 40%.
The total wealth of the top 40% of Americans is 475
times the total wealth of the bottom 40%.
The total wealth of the top 40% of Americans is 20
times the total wealth of the bottom 60%.
Source: Edward N.
Wolff, "Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership, 1983-1998," April
2000. Table 2. (Courtesy, United For a Fair Economy)
Percentage of nation's wealth owned by:
Top
Sectors |
% of
nation's wealth |
Bottom
Sectors |
% of
nation's wealth |
Top
1% |
40% |
Bottom
40% |
0.2% |
Top
4% |
60% |
Bottom
80% |
15% |
Top
10% |
75% |
Bottom
90% |
25% |
Top
20% |
85% |
Bottom
96% |
40% |
Top
60% |
99.8% |
Bottom
99% |
60% |
The top 1% of households own almost 40% of the
nation's wealth. The top 4% of Americans own 60% of the nation's
wealth. The top 10% of Americans own over 70% of nation's
wealth. The top 20% of the nation's households own 85% of the
nation's total wealth. The top 40% of households own 95% of the
nation's total wealth. The top 60% of households own almost 100%,
or 99.8%, of the nation's wealth. (Wolff, 2000)
The bottom 40% of households own one-fifth of 1% (or
0.2%) of the nation's wealth. The bottom 60% of Americans own
only 5% of the nation's wealth. The bottom 80% of Americans own
only 15% of the nation's wealth. The bottom 99% of Americans own
60% of the nation's wealth. The total wealth in America totals
$27 trillion dollars. (Wolff, 2000)
The top 1% of Americans could live for an average of
555 years at basic living standards (defined as 125% of the national
poverty line of $13,000 per household per year).
Average household wealth for all Americans is
$270,000.
The average wealth of the top 1% of Americans is $10
million ($10,000,000).
The average wealth of the bottom 40% of Americans
$1,000.
Wealth Trends
In the fifteen years between 1983 and 1998, the bottom
40% of Americans saw their wealth drop 76%. (In other words,
they lost three-quarters of their wealth in 15 years).
In the same time period, the richest 1% saw their
wealth increase by 42%.
The richest 40%, excluding the richest 1%, saw their
wealth increase roughly 20%.
Income
Inequality
'Income' means annual earnings or increase in wealth
(for example, the increase in the value of stocks) over a one year's
period. This is different from 'wealth', which is the total
cumulative assets or net worth.
Top Facts
The richest 1% of Americans earned as much income
(after taxes) in 1999 as the bottom 38%. (In other words, the
2.7 million Americans with the highest incomes will have as much
after-tax income as the 100 million Americans with the lowest
incomes.)
The Widening Income Gulf,
Center for Budget Policy and Priorities
The total income earned by the top
20% of Americans equalled the total income earned by the bottom
80%. (Or, the top 20% of Americans earned as much total income
as the bottom 80%). (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000-01)
Trends in Income
The Rich and
Super-Rich
In 1999, there were 268 billionaires.
Bill Gates, America's richest individual, alone has
more wealth than 40% of the U.S. population combined, or 120 million
people. (Bill Gates net worth is approximately $50
billion. The total wealth of the bottom 40% of Americans is
$40 billion.)
Poverty
In 1999, there were 35 million people (or,
approximately 12% of the population) living below the poverty line
($13,000 income per year for a 3 person family) (Divided Decade:
Economic Disparity at the Century's Turn, United for a Fair
Economy)
Poverty Rate in America, 1996: 13.7%
Poverty rates in America by Race, 1996: White:
11.2% Black: 28.5% Hispanic: 29.4%
Poverty rates in America by location of
residence: Central Cities: 19.6% Suburban: 9.4% Rural:
15.9%
Income and
poverty
In
1998, 18.7 percent of American children lived in poverty
Columbia
University, (Inequality.org)
Notes: Other Topics Trends in
Inequality (for both Wealth and Income) CEO pay vs. Average
Worker Pay
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