Data from the Federal Reserve shows that the so-called K-shaped economy in America is alive and well, with low- and middle-income households falling further behind as the richest Americans pull away.

The top 1% of households owned 31.7% of all U.S. wealth in the third quarter of 2025, the highest share on record since the Federal Reserve began tracking household wealth in 1989. That share has increased even as wealth growth for the rest of the population has stalled or slowed, the data shows.

Collectively, the wealthiest 1% held about $55 trillion in assets in the third quarter of 2025 — roughly equal to the wealth held by the bottom 90% of Americans combined.

"Household wealth is highly concentrated and becoming steadily more concentrated," Mark Zandi, chief economist at financial research firm Moody's Analytics, told CBS News.

The latest snapshot of wealth inequality comes as billionaire fortunes continue to grow rapidly, both in the U.S. and abroad. An Oxfam International report released this week found that billionaire wealth in 2025 increased three times faster than the average annual rate over the previous five years.

The world's richest person is Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose net worth stands at $668 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

What's driving the growing divide
Widening wealth inequality isn't new to the U.S., with the trend reaching back decades. However, the gap between the rich and the poor has become more skewed since the pandemic, according to Zandi.

Consumer spending patterns underscore those disparities. In the second quarter of 2025, the top 10% of income earners accounted for nearly half of all U.S. consumer spending, according to Zandi's analysis of Federal Reserve data.

The growing divide is being driven in part by surging stock prices, Zandi said.

The stock market posted strong gains last year, thanks in large part to investments in artificial intelligence. Wealthier households tend to benefit most from bull markets because a larger share of their wealth is invested in stocks and other securities.

According to Gallup, 87% of Americans who own stocks are adults living in households earning $100,000 or more.

Middle-income households, on the other hand, tend to have their wealth tied up in their homes, and house price growth has been slowing, Zandi added. Lower-income Americans are struggling with higher debt loads, he said.

Uneven wage growth is also contributing to the divide. Higher-income Americans have seen their wages grow at a stronger clip than other income groups. Bank of America data shows that higher-income households' wage growth grew at 3% rate in December 2025, compared to 1.5% and 1.1% for middle- and low-income households.

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