The share of US national wealth held by the top one percent of households surpasses thirty percent

Last week, the Federal Reserve published its longstanding report on wealth distribution in the United States covering the first quarter of 2024. Around 1.38 million households comprise the top one percent, and collectively, this group owns around 30.4 percent of the country’s total wealth, including 50 percent of corporate equities and mutual funds, 53 percent of all private businesses, and 13 percent of all real estate. The share of wealth owned by this group increased during the pandemic, hitting a record high of 31 percent in early 2021 but quickly began to fall again. However, since late 2022 their share of the pie began to grow and has now hit the same point it was before the pandemic.

By comparison, the poorest fifty percent of households, representing sixty-six million families, own one percent of corporate equities and mutual funds, 1 percent of businesses, and 10.6 percent of all real estate. When looking at the housing market, the households comprising the bottom fifty percent saw homeownership rates sore in the early 2000s as predatory mortgages entrapped many in loans they could not afford in the long run. Since 2010, the share of real estate owned by this group has fallen, and in the first quarter of 2024, it reached the lowest level on record. With mortgage rates at the highest level they have been in decades, it is likely that this rate could continue to fall as many buyers with lower incomes are priced out of the market.

Wealth for the top one percent has ballooned during the pandemic

Collectively, the wealth owned by the top one percent reaches $46.1 trillion, compared to the $3.7 trillion owned by the bottom 50 percent of households. To put this in perspective, if the total amounts owned by each group were divided evenly, the top 1 percent would receive a payment totaling $35 million, while that for a household in the bottom 50 percent would stand around $55,000.

As the real median income in the US has fallen since 2019, the top 1 percent has seen their wealth balloon from $31 trillion to $45 trillion. Much of this increase is fueled by this group’s disproportionate ownership over financial assets and private business. As the stock market has rallied to record heights, the net worth of these households has seen an associated rise, thanks to the fact that they own more than half, 53 percent, of all corporate equalities and mutual fund shares. In contrast, the bottom 50 percent owns 2.5 percent, and since 1990 the figure has never surpassed 5 percent. One percent of households own $20 trillion in stocks and shares, while the bottom half of earners own $230 billion.