Income Gap In America Today

The income gap between the social classes has increased drastically throughout the last few decades creating a significant gap between the wealthy and the poor.

Income gap in america today. 10 2019 updated june 11 2020 washington the expanding gap between rich and poor is not only widening the gulf in incomes and wealth in america. The richest of the rich the top 5 earned 23 of all income. By 2016 this ratio had increased to 248 a much sharper rise than the widening gap in income. Conversely vermont continues to be america s most equitable state with a controlled gap of 1 01 and an uncontrolled wage gap of 0 89 which is the highest out of all the states.

The top 1 earns on average more than forty times than the lower income earners. By comparison the median income for upper tier households grew 64 over that time from 126 100 to 207 400. However some states ahem south dakota new hampshire alabama north dakota new jersey and iowa have actually regressed in the past decade with higher gender pay disparity today than they had in 2010. One of the social issues concerning power status and class in american society today is income inequality.

As a result the wealth gap between america s richest and poorer families more than doubled from 1989 to 2016. From 1970 to 2018 the median middle class income increased from 58 100 to 86 600 a gain of 49. The gender pay gap is also worryingly wider for women with college degrees. 3 their average household income was 233 895.

Essentially one person out of 100 earns 40 times more than 90 others in the group. In 1989 the richest 5 of families had 114 times as much wealth as families in the second quintile 2 3 million compared with 20 300. Clearly there is work to be done. The united states could improve income inequality with employment training and investing in education.

Current statistics in 2018 the top 20 of the population earned 52 of all u s. The wealth gap in america has been growing since at least the 1970s as income levels stagnated for lower and middle class households while continuing to grow for households at the top of the spectrum. The share of american adults who live in middle income households has decreased from 61 in 1971 to 51 in 2019. The nationwide protests following the death of a black man george floyd at the hands of white police officers has once again shone a spotlight on the long standing racial divide in the us.