The Top 1% Now Owns 31.7% of America's Wealth

A Champagne Glass, Not a Pyramid

If American wealth were a vessel, it would not be a wide pyramid with most at the bottom. It would be a champagne glass — a vast bowl of riches at the top resting on a needle-thin stem of everyone else.

Scroll to move through each fifth of the U.S. population, from the poorest at the bottom to the richest at the top.

100 Americans

Each dot represents 1 percent of the U.S. population, colored by the wealth group its members belong to.

The Top 1% Share, Since 1989

From 23.8 percent in 1989 to 31.7 percent in 2025. The line has bent upward through every boom.

905 People, $7.8 Trillion

Together they hold more wealth than the bottom half of the country. Their combined fortune has grown more than fourfold since March 2020.

Same Country, Different Starting Lines

Wealth in America runs along racial lines that have persisted for generations — the result, in large part, of policy choices made over the last century.

Each row shows a racial group's share of total U.S. wealth alongside its share of households. The wider the gap, the less neutral the system.

Where Do You Sit?

Enter your net worth and age to see your exact position in the U.S. wealth distribution.

Net worth = total assets minus total debts. Include home equity, retirement, savings. Subtract mortgage, student loans, other debts.

Have a number we should look at?

This project is a living document. If you spot an error, want a chart added, have a dataset to suggest, or simply want to argue with a framing — write in.