Top 1% Now Hold Record 31.9% of U.S. Wealth as Gap Widens
The richest 1% of Americans now hold a record 31.9% of total U.S. wealth — the highest share the Federal Reserve has ever recorded — as SpaceX’s IPO made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
COLUMBUS, OHIO — The richest 1% of Americans now control nearly a third of the nation’s total wealth, the highest share recorded by the Federal Reserve Board since it began tracking the data in 1989, according to a report from the Ohio Capital Journal. The surge comes as a booming stock market and President Donald Trump’s pro-business policies continue to accelerate a wealth concentration trend that has been building since 2022.
Record Wealth Concentration at the Top
The top 1% held 31.9% of all U.S. wealth at the end of 2025, up from 22.5% in 1990, according to Federal Reserve Board data. Researchers say the figure is likely the highest since the end of World War II and may signal a return to the extreme inequality of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Today’s top 1% comprises approximately 1.4 million households, each with a net worth of at least $12 million, collectively holding $55.9 trillion in wealth. By contrast, the bottom 50% — roughly 67.7 million households — holds less than $264,000 in net worth per household.
French economist Thomas Piketty, using different methodologies than the Federal Reserve, has estimated that the richest 1% of Americans held nearly half the nation’s wealth in 1928 and 1929, just before the Great Depression. That share declined during subsequent decades, a period marked by high marginal income tax rates and widespread public opposition to outsized executive compensation.
SpaceX IPO Makes Musk World’s First Trillionaire
The most dramatic illustration of the current trend came last week when SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket and artificial intelligence company, began trading publicly on the stock market. The initial public offering pushed Musk’s net worth to a historic milestone, making him the world’s first trillionaire.
The SpaceX IPO drew global attention, but analysts note it represents only the sharpest example of a broader pattern of wealth flowing toward those already at the top of the economic ladder.
Trump Policies Expected to Widen the Gap Further
The Federal Reserve’s record wealth concentration figure is expected to grow further, according to the Ohio Capital Journal report, driven by President Trump’s tax cuts and other pro-business policy decisions implemented during his second term.
The trend marks a significant reversal from the post-World War II decades, when wealth distribution in the United States was comparatively more equal. Researchers and economists tracking the data say the current trajectory, if it continues, could eventually approach the levels of inequality last seen during the Gilded Age.
