Wealth gaps between upper-income families and lower- and middle-income families are at highest levels recorded lower income families
Wealth gaps between upper-income families and lower- and middle-income families are at the highest levels recorded. Although lower- and middle-income families overall experienced gains in wealth in recent years, they were not large enough to make up for the losses these families sustained during the recession. Thus, in 2016, the median wealth of lower-income families was 42% less than in 2007 and the median wealth of middle-income families was 33% lower. Indeed, the net worth of these families in 2016 – $10,800 for lower-income families and $110,100 for middle-income families – was comparable to 1989 levels.
The experience of upper-income families is markedly different. Their losses in the recession were smaller and their recovery was stronger. By 2016, upper-income families had a median wealth of $810,800, 10% more than prior to the recession in 2007. Moreover, the median wealth of upper-income families is at the highest level since the Federal Reserve started collecting these data in 1983. Consequently, the recession drove wealth inequality between upper-income families and lower- and middle-income families to the highest levels recorded. In 2016, the median wealth of upper-income families was seven times that of middle-income families, a ratio that has doubled since 1983. Upper-income families also had 75 times the wealth of lower-income families in 2016, compared with 28 times the wealth in 1983.
Upper-income white families have grown wealthier. Among upper-income families, white households had a median net worth of $971,500 in 2016, notably higher than the overall median for this income tier. Moreover, the median wealth of upper-income white families in 2016 was 25% greater than its pre-recession level, an increase greater than for all upper-income families combined.
Wealth gaps between upper-income  | families and lower- and middle-income  | families are at highest levels recorded  | Median net worth fof upper- income families is  | times greater than that of "middle- and  | lower income families  | UPPER-TOLOWER INCOME  | UPPER -TO-MIDDLE INCOME  | 75. o  | 68. 7  | 40.0  | 6.6  | 1.4  | 4.5  | 2007 2013 2016  | 2007 2013 2016  | Source: Pew Research Center analysis of Survey of  | Consumer Finances public -use data.  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 