Wealth disparity between the top 1% and the rest of the U.S. has been on the rise for decades. But the amount of wealth held by the wealthiest individuals and families in our country is larger than most people think.
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The Federal Reserve keeps a database on the collective wealth held by U.S. households since 1989. We’ll break down the data, including how much actual wealth is held by the top 1%, what percentage of the collective wealth of America is held by the richest households, and how the top 1% continue to grow their wealth year after year.
Top 1% vs. 99%: Wealth Distribution Over the Years
The top 1% of households in America held around 20.4% of the total wealth in the United States in 1989. This means that the total net worth of households in the top 1% of all households in America held over one fifth of all the wealth combined in the United States.
While this figure is astonishing, the top 1% has continued to accumulate more and more wealth as a percentage of all wealth in this country. Here’s a breakdown of the wealth distribution between the top 1% and the 99% in America:
- 1989 – 22.8%
- 1994 – 25.7%
- 1999 – 27.5%
- 2004 – 26.9%
- 2009 – 28.1%
- 2014 – 30.4%
- 2019 – 30.4%
- 2024 – 30.8%
- 2025 – 30.8%
As you can see, the wealthiest households in the U.S. now own nearly 1/3 of all the wealth in America. This disparity hasn’t moved too much since 2014, but the amount of wealth accumulated by these households is astounding.
Here are the numbers:
- 1989 – $4.78 trillion
- 1994 – $6.87 trillion
- 1999 – $11.46 trillion
- 2004 – $14.77 trillion
- 2009 – $16.34 trillion
- 2014 – $25.06 trillion
- 2019 – $33.56 trillion
- 2024 – $50.18 trillion
- 2025 – $49.39 trillion
At this point, the top 1% have nearly $50 trillion in combined wealth.
Compared with the 99%, who currently have a combined $110.87 trillion in wealth, the amount of money controlled by just 1% of the population is incredible.
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Top 1% vs. 99%: What They Invest In
While the numbers are certainly eye-popping, it’s important to look at what the 1% invest in and own in terms of investments and assets.
For example, in 1989, the top 1% owned 9.4% of all real estate, as well as 42.6% of all stocks and mutual funds. This means the top 1% are heavy investors in the stock market, and owned nearly half of all funds and stocks over 35 years ago.
Today, the top 1% own 13.5% of all real estate, and 49.8% of all stocks and mutual funds. The ownership of assets continues to rise for the wealthy, and nearly half the stock market is owned by only 1% of the population.
What’s interesting is that the top 1% also have (relatively) little debt compared to the bottom 99%. For example, the top 1% only owns around 3% of the total U.S. debt for mortgages and credit cards, while the bottom 99% own about 97% of all consumer debt. This makes it harder to build wealth and showcases why the rich continue to get richer.
Should You Invest Like the 1%?
The top 1% in the U.S. continue to grow their wealth, despite economic headwinds and inflationary challenges. And the gap between the 1% and the bottom 99% of wealth in the United States continues to grow wider.
This begs the question: Should you invest like the 1%?
In general, investing in real estate and the stock market has yielded returns that outpace inflation and can help you build wealth. It can be a good idea to become an investor if you wish to grow your wealth to become part of the top 10%, or even the top 5% in America.
However, the caveat (as always) is having a strong enough income to support your lifestyle AND to invest at the same time. With inflation continuing to make life much more expensive for everyone, it continues to get harder and harder for regular families to invest their money. Finding ways to increase income and cut expenses is more important than ever to be able to grow your wealth.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Here’s How Much Wealth the Top 1% in the US Has vs the Other 99%
