page_title: Income inequality in the United States
section_title: Economic
hierarchical_section_title: Income inequality in the United States / Effects / Economic
caption_attribution_description: English: FRED data showing United States real GDP per capita vs. real median household income. This indicates a trend of increasing income inequality. GDP per capita (a measure of average or mean total income) is not translating to median wage increases, indicating a small fraction of the population is capturing the income increase. Refer to NYT article linked in the file description for similar graph and narrative.
context_page_description: Income inequality in the United States is the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among the American population. It has fluctuated considerably since measurements began around 1915, moving in an arc between peaks in the 1920s and 2000s, with a 30-year period of relatively lower inequality between 1950–1980.
  The U.S. has the highest level of income inequality among its industrialized peers. When measured for all households, U.S. income inequality is comparable to other developed countries before taxes and transfers, but is among the highest after taxes and transfers, meaning the U.S. shifts relatively less income from higher income households to lower income households. In 2016, average market income was $15,600 for the lowest quintile and $280,300 for the highest quintile. The degree of inequality accelerated within the top quintile, with the top 1% at $1.8 million, approximately 30 times the $59,300 income of the middle quintile.
context_section_description: Income inequality may contribute to slower economic growth, reduced income mobility, higher levels of household debt, and greater risk of financial crises and deflation.
caption: Real GDP per household has typically increased since the year 2000, while real median income per household was below 1999 levels until 2016, indicating a trend of greater income inequality (i.e., the average is more influenced by high income outliers than the median). The income considered in the two lines is different as well; the GDP figure includes all income (derived from labor and capital) while the median income figure includes only a subset of income (wages/salaries but not benefits).[75]
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