According to the Federal Reserve, U.S. households hold $160.35 trillion in combined wealth, which is the value of every American’s assets minus their liabilities.
Find Out: Here’s the Line Between Middle Class and Upper-Middle Class in Every State
Try This: 6 Subtly Genius Moves All Wealthy People Make With Their Money
To say it’s distributed unevenly is too much of an understatement to even qualify as an understatement. The bottom 50% of the country shares less than 3% of that enormous pie, while the most fortunate 10% gorge on nearly all of it.
Here’s a look at how much money each American would have if every person got an equal slice of the country’s wealth.
Next, find out what the economy might look like if net worth was capped at $1 billion.
Trending Now: Suze Orman’s Secret to a Wealthy Retirement–Have You Made This Money Move?
How Does Just Shy of a Half-Million Bucks Sound? It Depends Who You Ask
According to Google’s Data Commons project, the U.S. is home to roughly 340.11 million people.
If they divvied up the country’s $160.35 trillion jackpot equally, each would have about $471,465. That’s $942,930 per couple. If a couple had two kids, the four of them would be sitting pretty with $1.89 million.
To most in the lower 50%, that probably sounds like a pretty sweet deal. To many in the monied class in the top half, however, a net worth of less than a half-million dollars might as well be a stint in the poorhouse.
Learn More: 4 Secrets of the Truly Wealthy, According To Dave Ramsey
The Haves and Have-Mores Hoard 2/3 of the Pie
Nearly one dollar in three is in the pockets of the top 1%, which owns $49.46 trillion, or 30.8% of America’s combined wealth — but even the 1% has an aristocracy and an underclass.
The heavyweights at the tippy-top of the pyramid in the top 0.1% — about 340,000 people — own $22.14 trillion, or 13.8% of America’s bounty. That leaves the commoners of the 1% — the 99%-99.9% percentile group — to share $27.32 trillion, or 17% of America’s fortune.
Under that are those in the 90%-99% percentile group, who control $58.34 trillion, or 36.4% of the pie. Combined with the 1%, that puts almost exactly two-thirds of America’s wealth in the bank accounts of the top 10%.
90% Share 33% — But They Hardly Share It Equally
Nearly all of the remaining third of America’s wealth — 30.3%, or $48.54 trillion — goes to those in the 50%-90% percentile groups.
That leaves just 2.5%, or $4.01 trillion, for the entire bottom 50% of the country to split. If they split it evenly, which they, of course, do not, that would give each of those 170 million people $23,588.
For context, the 340,000 movers and shakers in the top 0.1% get about $65.12 million each — 2,760 times more.
More From GOBankingRates
-
6 Costco Products That Have the Most Customer Complaints
-
Mark Cuban Warns of ‘Red Rural Recession’ — 4 States That Could Get Hit Hard
-
How Middle-Class Earners Are Quietly Becoming Millionaires — and How You Can, Too
-
4 Low-Risk Ways To Build Your Savings in 2025
Sources
-
United States Federal Reserve, “Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S. since 1989.”
-
Data Commons, “United States of America.”
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: If Wealth Was Evenly Distributed Across America, How Much Money Would Every Person Have?
