The gap between America's wealthiest and everyday citizens has reached its widest point in generations, according to federal data that highlights an increasingly bifurcated economy under the Trump administration.
Record wealth concentration
As of late 2025, the top 1 percent of households held 31.7 percent of the nation's wealth, the highest share since the Federal Reserve began tracking this figure in 1989. This marks a significant increase from previous decades and underscores a trend where economic gains flow disproportionately to the rich.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, told NBC News: "Donald Trump talks a lot about the working class, his MAGA base is primarily working class, but if you look at the data, the working class is doing very badly in the second Trump administration. The real growth has been in corporate profits and in the wealth of the people at the top."
K-shaped recovery
The U.S. economy has become what economists describe as "K-shaped," where those on the upper end of the income scale enjoy substantial benefits while the vast majority in the middle and lower ends struggle. Observers point to a stock market that continues to break records, buoyed by optimism around the artificial intelligence boom, even as the Iran war disrupts global energy markets and drives up gas prices.
Lower-income Americans cut gas consumption by about 7 percent in March but still spent 12 percent more due to higher prices, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In contrast, high-income households' consumption habits remained largely unchanged.
Employment disparities
Other macroeconomic indicators reveal a similar rich-poor divide. While overall unemployment held steady in April and the U.S. added 115,000 jobs—more than expected—racial disparities persisted. Mohamed El-Erian, a professor at the Wharton School of Business and chief economic adviser at Allianz, told PBS: "If you look at the details of the jobs report, you will see, for example, Black and Hispanic unemployment is getting worse, while Asian and white unemployment are staying as is or getting better. Black unemployment is now twice the level of white unemployment. So, within an economy that looks good at the average, we are seeing major divergences that should be of concern."
Policy impacts
The Trump administration has touted its economic record as part of a broad-based "Golden Age" for all Americans, citing an increased average tax refund, reduced inflation, $1,000 "Trump accounts" for newborns, and trillions of dollars in foreign investment pledges. However, its signature tax bill, passed last year, delivered benefits disproportionately to the wealthy. The spending package also cut Medicaid funding, and Republicans allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire at the end of 2025.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
