American’s ultra-wealthy had a great year in 2025. The same can’t be said for the rest of the country.
The top 1 percent grew their wealth around $5 trillion last year and now control about a third of the nation’s wealth, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.
The 1 per cent now collectively have $55 trillion, which nearly amounts to the entire wealth of the bottom 90 per cent.
The Fed data presents a bleak picture of how unequal wealth distribution has become over time, with average Americans no longer holding the biggest share of the nation’s wealth like they did in the late Eighties.
In September 1989, the fi…
American’s ultra-wealthy had a great year in 2025. The same can’t be said for the rest of the country.
The top 1 percent grew their wealth around $5 trillion last year and now control about a third of the nation’s wealth, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.
The 1 per cent now collectively have $55 trillion, which nearly amounts to the entire wealth of the bottom 90 per cent.
The Fed data presents a bleak picture of how unequal wealth distribution has become over time, with average Americans no longer holding the biggest share of the nation’s wealth like they did in the late Eighties.
In September 1989, the first year that the Fed offered statistics, the 1 percent owned 22.8 percent of the national wealth, while the bottom 90 percent held 39.2 percent. In terms of dollars, the top 1 percent owned $4.7 trillion compared to $8 trillion for the bottom 90%.
The top 1 percent own about a third of the nation’s wealth today (AFP via Getty Images)
Wealth distribution by age
The Fed data covers several areas of wealth distribution, including how it breaks down by age, generation and race. Those aged 70 and above saw their wealth increase by around $4.5 trillion from January through September 2025.
Those under 40 enjoyed a roughly $800 billion increase in their wealth, the largest such gain from the first to third quarter of the year since 2021:
| Year | Wealth of those under 40 from January - March (Q1) | Wealth of those under 40 from July - September (Q3) | Difference in wealth between Q1 and Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $10.6 trillion | $11.4 trillion | +$800 billion |
| 2024 | $10.1 trillion | $10.6 trillion | +$500 billion |
| 2023 | $9.2 trillion | $9.6 trillion | +$400 billion |
| 2022 | $10 trillion | $9.3 trillion | -$700 billion |
| 2021 | $8.2 trillion | $9.4 trillion | +$1.2 trillion |
Wealth distribution by education
There are significant disparities in wealth distributed by education, too.
Those who graduated from college owned 75.5 percent of the nation’s wealth through September 2025. Those who graduated from high school had a 9.1 percent share, and those with no high school education had a 1.3 percent share.
Those figures are far different than they were 37 years ago, when college grads had a 48.6 percent share compared to a 32.2 percent share for those with and without a high school education.