Recent data from the Federal Reserve has unveiled a stark picture of wealth inequality in the United States. As of the end of 2023, the collective net worth of American households reached a record high of $156.2 trillion. With approximately 130 million households, this averages to about $1.2 million per household. However, the median net worth tells a different story—standing at just $192,000, it indicates that half of U.S. households possess less than this amount.
This significant gap between the average and median net worth highlights the concentration of wealth among the wealthiest Americans. In fact, Federal Reserve data from the third quarter of 2024 shows that the bottom 50% of U.S. households collectively hold only 2.4% of the nation’s wealth.
Chinese netizens have taken notice of these figures. Utilizing this data, some shared it with Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which calculated a Gini coefficient of 0.823 for the United States. The Gini coefficient, ranging from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (maximum inequality), measures wealth distribution within a nation. A coefficient as high as 0.8 underscores the extent of wealth concentration among a small percentage of households.
While this estimate is a simplification—since calculating the Gini coefficient accurately requires detailed distribution data—the statistics undeniably reflect the profound disparity between the richest and the rest of the population. For context, the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances reported a Gini coefficient for net worth of approximately 0.85 in 2019, indicating persistently high levels of wealth inequality.
It’s important to note that the Gini coefficient for wealth is typically higher than that for income due to factors like investments and inheritance, which disproportionately benefit top earners. In comparison, the U.S. Census Bureau calculated a Gini index for income inequality of 0.488 in 2022.
These revelations have sparked discussions about economic policies and the need for measures to address the widening wealth gap in the United States.
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Graphics: Half of American households hold just 2.4% of U.S. wealth
cgtn.com
