The Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts show that the top 1% of U.S. households held 30.8% of total household wealth in Q3 2024, while the bottom 90% held about 33%. This means the top 1% had nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90%, but not more.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System describes the Distributional Financial Accounts (DFAs) as providing "quarterly estimates of the distribution of a comprehensive measure of U.S. household wealth".[3] The DFAs present wealth held by five percentile groups: "the top 0.1 percent, the remaining 0.9 percent of the top 1, the next 9 percent (i.e., 90th to 99th percentile), the next 40 percent (50th to 90th percentile), and the bottom half (below the 50th percentile)."[3] These groupings allow direct comparison of the wealth held by the top 1% with that held by the other 99% broken into subgroups, including the bottom 90%.

Figure 1: Top 1% net worth share (percent of aggregate) shows that in 2019 the top 1 percent of U.S. households held about 30 percent of total net worth. The Distributional Financial Accounts (DFAs) provide quarterly estimates of the distribution of household wealth in the United States that are consistent with the Financial Accounts of the United States.

The share of wealth owned by the 1 percent of richest people in the United States has reached a new record of 31.7 percent in the third quarter of 2025, the highest since records began in 1989. This is according to figures published in late January by the Federal Reserve. Q2 of 2025 and Q4 of 2024 had already seen new all-time highs set at or above 31 percent, as the wealth of the super-rich tends to recover quicker from setbacks like financial crises and global upheaval.

In 2023, the top 1% of U.S. households owned 30.0% of net worth, or about $43.0 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. The remaining 99% owned the rest, with the bottom half holding only a small share of total wealth.

In its report "Trends in the Distribution of Family Wealth, 1989 to 2022," the Congressional Budget Office states: "When Social Security is not included in the measure of wealth, the share of wealth held by the top 1 percent instead declined from 34 percent in 2019 to 33 percent in 2022, and the share held by the bottom half of the distribution increased from 2 percent to 3 percent."[8] The report finds that families in the top 10 percent held an average of $9.1 million in wealth in 2022.[8] These figures indicate that while the top 1% holds about one-third of total measured wealth, it does not equal the combined wealth share of the entire bottom 90%.

As of the third quarter of 2025, the wealthiest 1% in the United States held 31% of total wealth, while the top 10% held more than 68%. The article describes this as the highest level since records began in 1989.

A Federal Reserve FEDS Note on "Wealth and Income Concentration in the SCF: 1989–2019" reports that "The share of wealth held by the bottom 50 percent is about the same under each wealth concept, and is about 2 percent in 2019".[4] It also states: "The share of wealth held by the top 1 percent fell slightly between 2016 and 2019, from 33.9 to 33.1 percent."[4] The note further observes that across different datasets, "wealth concentration among the top 1 percent ranges from 30 to 36.5 percent in 2016".[4] These values show the top 1% holding roughly one-third of wealth, not as much as the bottom 90% combined.

From 1989 to 2016, the top 1% wealth share rose to 31.5%. The paper states that wealth is very concentrated: the top 1% holds nearly as much wealth as either the bottom 90% or the P90-99 class.

Overall, wealth is very concentrated: the top 1% holds as much wealth as the bottom 90%. However, the P90-99 class holds more wealth than either group after accounting for heterogeneity.

While these changes are less dramatic than some prior estimates, wealth is very concentrated: the top 1% holds nearly as much wealth as either the bottom 90% or the "P90-99" class. Nevertheless, wealth is very concentrated: the top 1% holds nearly as much wealth as either the bottom 90% or the “P90-99” class.

Their findings show that wealth is very concentrated: the top 1% holds nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90% and the P90-99 class.

The top 1%—1.6 million families with net assets above $4 million—owns close to 42% of total wealth and the top 0.1%—160,700 families with net assets above $20 million—owns 22% of total wealth, about as much as the bottom 90%.

An economic brief from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond summarizing SCF data for 2022 notes: "Table 1 describes the U.S. household wealth distribution in 2022, using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF)."[10] It reports that "The top 10 percent of households had $1,559,240 or more in wealth, and the top 1 percent had at least $11,640,000."[10] While this brief focuses on thresholds and portfolio composition rather than total shares, it reflects the high concentration of wealth among the top 1%, consistent with other estimates placing their share around one-third of total wealth, below the combined share of the bottom 90%.

Federal Reserve data shows that the richest 10 percent of American households now own over two-thirds of the nation’s total wealth. The top 1 percent holds 31.0 percent of total wealth – just slightly less than the entire bottom 90 percent of U.S. households.

The FRED Blog post "Comparing household assets across the wealth distribution" uses DFA data to illustrate total real assets by wealth percentile groups. It states: "In total, as of fourth quarter 2023, [households in] the 90th-99th percentiles…held $18.7 [trillion] and [households in] the 50th-90th percentiles…held $17.4 trillion, respectively. The top 1% of US households…also hold close to the same amount: $14.8 trillion."[5] The post further notes: "The top 0.1% of households…hold $6.5 trillion in assets, which is more than double the total amount of assets held by the bottom 50%…$3.1 trillion."[5] These comparisons show that while the top 1% holds roughly as much as either the 50th–90th or 90th–99th group alone, it does **not** match the combined wealth of the entire bottom 90%.

Drawing on the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts, we estimate that the richest 1 percent of Americans held about 31 percent of national wealth in 2022. The bottom 90 percent held roughly 32 percent of wealth. This means the net worth of the top 1 percent is almost as large as the net worth of the bottom 90 percent of the population combined, underscoring the extreme concentration of wealth at the very top.

The wealthiest one percent of American households own 40 percent of the country's wealth, according to a new paper by economist Edward N. Woolf. That share is higher than it has been at any point since at least 1962, according to Woolf's data, which comes from the federal Survey of Consumer Finances. Today, the top one percent of households own more wealth than the bottom 90 percent combined.

The wealthiest 1% in the United States reached 31% of total wealth in the third quarter of 2025, according to Federal Reserve data. The bottom 50% held only 2.5% of wealth.

Based on the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts, the top 1% of U.S. households now own around 31% of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 90% own about 32%. Although popular rhetoric sometimes claims that "the 1% own more wealth than the bottom 90%", the official data show that their shares are similar but the bottom 90% still hold slightly more wealth in aggregate than the top 1%.

In the third quarter of 2025, the wealthiest 1% of households possessed 31% of U.S wealth, marking the highest percentage recorded since the Federal Reserve began monitoring household wealth in 1989. In total, the richest 1% held approximately $55 trillion in assets during the third quarter of 2025, which is roughly equivalent to the combined wealth of the bottom 90% of Americans.

As of Q1 2024, the top 1% of households in the United States held 30.5% of the country's wealth, while the bottom 50% held 2.5%.

Data from the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts indicate that as of 2023, the top 1 percent held about 31 percent of total U.S. household net worth. The bottom 90 percent held just over 33 percent. While the wealth of the top 1 percent is nearly equal to that of the bottom 90 percent, it has not yet surpassed it, contrary to some activist claims.

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.

According to recent updates to the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts, the top 1% of households own about 31.6% of national wealth. The remainder is split between the next 9% and the bottom 90%. Popular assertions that "the richest 1% have as much wealth as the bottom 90%" are close to true in magnitude but overstate the degree of concentration shown in the official data, which still attribute a slightly larger share to the bottom 90%.

The richest 0.1% own more than the bottom 80% of American households. The richest 1% owns 39% of the nation’s wealth—the bottom 90% owns just 23% of the wealth. That’s nearly as big a slice of the pie as is claimed by the bottom 90%, which during the same period saw their share of wealth decline from 37% to about 25%.

Overall, the top 10% richest own more than the bottom 90% combined, with $95 trillion in wealth. The top 1% holds about 31% of total U.S. wealth, and the bottom 50% holds just a small fraction by comparison.

In the first quarter of 2024, almost two-thirds of the total wealth in the United States was owned by the top 10 percent of households. In comparison, the lowest 50 percent only owned 2.5 percent of total wealth.

The top 1% now controls 31.7% of ALL U.S. household wealth, more than the entire bottom 90% combined. America's 1% holds about $55 trillion in assets — equal to the entire bottom 90% combined. These figures are presented as based on Federal Reserve data for Q3 2025.

A Facebook post from CBS Colorado referencing Federal Reserve data notes: "Nearly one-third of U.S. household wealth was held by the top 1% in the third quarter of 2025."[11] The phrasing "nearly one-third" is consistent with official DFA series showing the top 1% share around 31–32 percent in recent quarters.[2][1] The post, however, does not claim that this equals the combined wealth of the bottom 90%, only that it is a large share of total household wealth.