America’s richest are pulling even further ahead. In the past year alone, the 10 wealthiest U.S. billionaires added $698 billion to their fortunes — a surge that underscores the wealth divide in the world’s top economy.
A new report from Oxfam on Monday showed the top 0.1% now control almost a quarter of the U.S. stock market's value, while the bottom half of households hold barely 1%.
All this, while the average American grapples with unaffordable housing, mass layoffs, and SNAP cuts.
Poverty Remains Widespread
Over 40% of Americans are considered poor or low-income, including nearly half of all children. Between 1989-2022, Oxfam’s analysis shows that while executive salaries have continued to climb, nearly a quarter of the U.S. workforce are low-wage workers.
Among the 10 largest Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies, the U.S. also has the highest rate of relative poverty and the second-highest rate of child poverty.
Disparities also extend across race and gender, according to the report. Black and Hispanic households own just 5.8% of U.S. wealth despite making up roughly one-third of the population. Meanwhile, male-headed households have gained four times the wealth of female-headed households since 1989.
Wealth Concentrated At The Top
Households in the top 0.1% now hold 12.6% of U.S. assets, a record high since the Federal Reserve began tracking wealth in 1989, Oxfam noted. Meanwhile, the average household at the 99th percentile gained $8.35 million between 1989 and 2022, compared to less than $83,000 for the median U.S. household.
"2025 is shaping up as a pivotal year for the ultra-wealthy," Oxfam said, citing both ongoing market growth and recent federal tax policies under the Trump administration. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is projected to reduce taxes for the top 0.1% while raising the burden for households earning under $15,000 annually.
Oxfam warned that Trump administration policies risk driving U.S. inequality to new heights, but said that both Republican and Democratic administrations have exacerbated the country’s growing wealth gap.
9 Out Of 10 Billionaires Are Tech Moguls
The U.S. has more billionaires than any other country in the world, even as millions of Americans struggle with household expenses.
And, nearly the entire ultra-rich top 10 list, is made up of tech leaders benefitting from the tech rally and AI boom, including Tesla boss Elon Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and Dell founder Michael Dell.
Musk, who is currently at the top of the list, may even bag a $1 trillion pay package if shareholders approve the deal at Tesla’s shareholder meeting on Thursday.
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