Wealth inequality in the United States is a real thing. According to the Pew Research Group, the United States has the 10th-most unequal wealth distribution in the world.
But things actually get worse after taxes and transfers are taken into account. This process, which in many countries actually helps moderate wealth inequality, actually increases it in the United States, boosting the country’s global rank to No. 2. This begs the question of how much better off the average American would be if wealth was more equally redistributed.
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According to Forbes, as of 2025, there were 902 billionaires in the United States, the most of any country. Although a precise accounting is difficult, the total net worth of these billionaires is in the neighborhood of $6.22 trillion, according to Inequality.org. In a theoretical world in which all of those billionaires were to suddenly become middle class, how much excess money would be available for distribution to other Americans?
Read on to find out the number — and the ramifications.
How Many Americans Are There?
According to the United States Census Bureau, there are currently approximately 342 million Americans, with that total increasing by one person every 15 seconds.
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What Are the Median and Average Net Worths of Americans?
According to the most recent Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, the median net worth per American is $192,900. However, the average is a whopping $1.06 million. This is due to the number of ultra-wealthy individuals who drag up the overall average. For most purposes, the median net worth is a more appropriate estimate of average American wealth, as it marks the point where 50% of citizens have a higher net worth and 50% have a lower one.
How Much Would Everyone Gain With the Redistribution of Billionaires’ Wealth?
In spite of the immense wealth held by America’s billionaires, there are so many people in America, the world’s third-largest country in terms of population, that there’s actually not that much to go around.
If you divide the $6.22 trillion held by America’s billionaires by the 342 million individuals in America, the average payout would be just $18,187.13. If you allow each of America’s 902 billionaires to maintain the average net worth of $192,900, the payout for the rest of America diminishes only slightly, to $18,186.63 per individual.
That sum may not seem like much, considering it represents the cumulative net worth of all American billionaires. But if that money was simply saved, it would boost the median net worth of every American from $192,900 to roughly $211,086. That would amount to a 9.4% gain for 342 million Americans, an amount that could actually be statistically significant.
What Percentage of American Wealth Do Billionaires Hold?
Although the top 1% of Americans hold about 30% of the country’s wealth, the very few billionaires in the country only own about 3.8%.
To put this into perspective, however, the bottom 50% of Americans only control 2.5% of the country’s wealth, according to Americans for Tax Fairness. Put another way, if you distributed the net worth of the bottom 171 million Americans to the rest of the country, it would only amount to two-thirds of what you would receive from America’s 902 billionaires.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: If Every Billionaire Became Middle Class, How Much Would Everyone Else Gain?
