Editing Economy of the United States (section)

==Income and wealth==
[[File:Median personal income after taxes.webp|thumb|300px|Median personal income after taxes
{{legend|#FF2600|[[State income tax]]}}
{{legend|#FFD932|[[Payroll tax in the United States|Payroll tax]] [[employee]] side}}
{{legend|#B51700|[[Federal income tax]]}}
{{legend|#1DB100|[[Median income]] after tax}}
{{legend|#FF95CA|[[Payroll tax in the United States|Payroll tax]] [[employer]] side}}
]]
{{Main|Income in the United States|Affluence in the United States}}
{{See also|Personal income in the United States|Household income in the United States|Income inequality in the United States|List of United States counties by per capita income}}
[[File:US Real Household Median Income thru 2014.png|thumb|250px|U.S. real median household income (1984–2021)]]
[[File:U.S. Income and Net Worth Distribution.png|thumb|250px|U.S. family pre-tax income and net worth distribution for 2013 and 2016, from the Federal Reserve [[Survey of Consumer Finances]]<ref name=fed2017sept>[[Federal Reserve Bulletin]]. September 2017, Vol. 103, No. 3. See PDF: [https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/scf17.pdf Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2013 to 2016: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances]. Table 1 (on the left) is taken from page 4 of the PDF. Table 2 (on the right) is taken from page 13. See: [[Survey of Consumer Finances]] and [https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm more data].</ref>]]

===Income measures===
Real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) median household income, a good measure of middle-class income, was $59,039 in 2016, a record level. However, it was just above the previous record set in 1998, indicating the purchasing power of middle-class family income has been stagnant or down for much of the past twenty years.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N| title = FRED – Real Median Household Income| date = January 1984}}</ref> During 2013, employee compensation was $8.969{{spaces}}trillion, while gross private investment totals $2.781{{spaces}}trillion.<ref name="Fed Z.1">{{cite web | url=http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/z1.pdf | title=Z.1: Financial Accounts of the United States | publisher=[[Federal Reserve Board of Governors]] | date=March 6, 2014 | access-date=May 31, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527095440/http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/Current/z1.pdf | archive-date=May 27, 2014 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all}}</ref>

Americans have the highest average [[household income]] among OECD nations, and in 2010 had the fourth-highest [[median household income]], down from second-highest in 2007.<ref name="Household Income">{{cite journal |date=March 18, 2014 |title=Household Income |url=http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/society-at-a-glance-2014_soc_glance-2014-en |journal=Society at a Glance 2014: OECD Social Indicators |series=Society at a Glance |publisher=OECD Publishing |doi=10.1787/soc_glance-2014-en |isbn=9789264200722 |access-date=May 29, 2014 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=autogenerated4 /> According to one analysis middle-class incomes in the United States fell into a tie with those in Canada in 2010, and may have fallen behind by 2014, while several other advanced economies have closed the gap in recent years.<ref>David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy (April 22, 2014). [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/upshot/the-american-middle-class-is-no-longer-the-worlds-richest.html?_r=0 The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World's Richest]. ''[[The New York Times]].''</ref>

===Income inequality===
{{excerpt|Income inequality in the United States}}

===Household net worth and wealth inequality===
{{ multiple image |total_width=450 |title=Net personal wealth in the U.S. since 1962
| image1= 1962- Net personal wealth - average in percentile ranges - linear scale - US.svg | caption1= The average personal wealth of people in the top 1% is more than a thousand times that of people in bottom 50%.<ref name=WID_through_2021/>
| image2= 1962- Net personal wealth - average in percentile ranges - logarithmic scale - US.svg | caption2= The logarithmic scale shows how wealth has increased for all percentile groups, though moreso for wealthier people.<ref name=WID_through_2021>{{cite web |title=Evolution of wealth indicators, USA, 1913-2019 |url=https://wid.world/country/usa/ |website=WID.world |publisher=World Inequality Database |access-date=September 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230705011218/https://wid.world/country/usa/ |archive-date=July 5, 2023 |date=2022 |url-status=live }}</ref>
}}
As of Q4 2017, total household net worth in the United States was a record $99{{spaces}}trillion, an increase of $5.2{{spaces}}trillion from 2016. This increase reflects both stock market and housing price gains. This measure has been setting records since Q4 2012.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?graph_id=369801| title = FRED "Household and Non-Profit net worth{{snd}}Real and Nominal"}}</ref> If divided evenly, the $99{{spaces}}trillion represents an average of $782,000 per household (for about 126.2 million households) or $302,000 per person. However, median household net worth (i.e., half of the families above and below this level) was $97,300 in 2016. The bottom 25% of families had a median net worth of zero, while the 25th to 50th percentile had a median net worth of $40,000.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm| title = Federal Reserve – Survey of Consumer Finances 2016}}</ref>

Wealth inequality is more unequal than income inequality, with the top 1% households owning approximately 42% of the net worth in 2012, versus 24% in 1979.<ref>{{cite news| url = http://gabriel-zucman.eu/uswealth/| title = Economist Gabriel Zucman "Wealth Inequality in the United States Since 1913"| newspaper = Gabriel Zucman &#124; Professor of Economics| date = October 12, 2014}}</ref> According to a September 2017 report by the Federal Reserve, wealth inequality is at record highs; the top 1% controlled 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016.<ref>{{cite news |last=Egan|first=Matt |date=September 27, 2017|title=Record inequality: The top 1% controls 38.6% of America's wealth|url=https://money.cnn.com/2017/09/27/news/economy/inequality-record-top-1-percent-wealth/index.html|work=[[CNNMoney]]|access-date=October 12, 2017}}</ref> The [[Boston Consulting Group]] posited in June 2017 report that 1% of the Americans will control 70% of country's wealth by 2021.<ref>{{cite news |last=Steverman|first=Ben |date=June 16, 2017 |title=The U.S. Is Where the Rich Are the Richest|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-16/the-u-s-is-where-the-rich-are-the-richest|work=Bloomberg |access-date=October 22, 2017}}</ref>

The top 10% wealthiest possess 80% of all financial assets.<ref name="hurst34">{{cite book |last=Hurst|first=Charles E.|title=Social Inequality: Forms, Causes, and Consequences|year=2007|publisher=Pearson Education, Inc.|isbn=978-0205698295|page=34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0FVPwAACAAJ}}</ref> [[Wealth inequality in the United States|Wealth inequality in the U.S.]] is greater than in most developed countries other than Sweden.<ref name="GlobalWealthRpt"><!--Global Wealth Report 2024-->{{cite Q|Q133822249|page = 21}}</ref> [[Inherited wealth]] may help explain why many Americans who have become rich may have had a "substantial head start".<ref name="Salon-20140324">{{cite web |last=Bruenig |first=Matt |title=You call this a meritocracy? How rich inheritance is poisoning the American economy |url=http://www.salon.com/2014/03/24/death_of_meritocracy_how_inheritance_is_poisoning_the_american_economy/ |date=March 24, 2014 |work=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |access-date=August 24, 2014}}</ref><ref name="ECO-20140318">{{cite news |author=Staff |title=Inequality – Inherited wealth |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2014/03/inequality |date=March 18, 2014 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |access-date=August 24, 2014}}</ref> In September 2012, according to the [[Institute for Policy Studies]], "over 60 percent" of the [[Forbes 400|Forbes richest 400 Americans]] "grew up in substantial privilege".<ref name="OW-20120924">{{cite web |last=Pizzigati |first=Sam |title=The 'Self-Made' Hallucination of America's Rich |url=http://inequality.org/selfmade-myth-hallucinating-rich/ |date=September 24, 2012 |work=[[Institute for Policy Studies]] |access-date=August 24, 2014}}</ref> Median household wealth fell 35% in the U.S., from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011, due to the [[Great Recession]], but has since recovered as indicated above.<ref>{{cite web|title=Median Household Net Worth by Quintile|url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/cb14-156_net_worth_graphic.pdf|website=United States Census|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912175408/http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/cb14-156_net_worth_graphic.pdf|archive-date=September 12, 2014}}</ref>

About 30% of the entire world's millionaire population resides in the United States ({{as of|2009|lc=y}}).<ref name="WorldWealthReport2010">{{cite web|url=http://www.capgemini.com/insights-and-resources/by-publication/world-wealth-report-2010/|title=World Wealth Report 2010 – Resource|date=June 18, 2010|access-date=August 10, 2017|archive-date=April 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406122836/http://www.capgemini.com/insights-and-resources/by-publication/world-wealth-report-2010/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[Economist Intelligence Unit]] estimated in 2008 that there were 16,600,000 millionaires in the U.S.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barclayswealth.com/files/volume5.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326020703/http://www.barclayswealth.com/files/volume5.pdf |archive-date=March 26, 2009 |title=Barclays Wealth Insights |url-status=dead |access-date=February 2, 2017}}. Volume 5: Evolving Fortunes. Barclays (2008). p. 7</ref> Furthermore, 34% of the world's billionaires are American (in 2011).<ref name="forbes.com" /><ref>{{cite news|last=Ody |first=Elizabeth |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-09/carlos-slim-tops-forbes-list-of-billionaires-for-second-year.html |title=Carlos Slim Tops Forbes List of Billionaires for Second Year |publisher=Bloomberg |date=March 10, 2011 |access-date=April 21, 2012}}</ref>

===Home ownership===
{{Further|Home-ownership in the United States}}
[[File:Cost of housing by State.webp|thumb|490px|Cost of housing by State]]

The U.S. home ownership rate in Q1 2018 was 64.2%, well below the all-time peak of 69.2% set in Q4 2004 during a [[United States housing bubble|housing bubble]]. Millions of homes were lost to foreclosure during the [[Great Recession]] of 2007–2009, bringing the ownership rate to a trough of 62.9% in Q2 2016. The average ownership rate from 1965 to 2017 was 65.3%.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N| title = FRED "Homeownership rate for the United States"| date = January 1965}}</ref>

The average home in the United States has more than 700 square feet per person (65 square meters), which is 50%–100% more than the average in other high-income countries. Similarly, ownership rates of gadgets and amenities are relatively high compared to other countries.<ref name="Rector-Johnson">{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm|title=Understanding Poverty in America|date=January 5, 2004|author1=Robert E. Rector|author2=Kirk A. Johnson|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313053958/http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/bg1713.cfm|archive-date=March 13, 2010}}</ref><ref name="Rector">{{cite web |url=http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg2064.cfm|title=How Poor Are America's Poor? Examining the "Plague" of Poverty in America|date=August 27, 2007|author=Robert Rector|url-status=unfit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100312170900/http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg2064.cfm|archive-date=March 12, 2010}}</ref><ref>W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm (1999), The myths of rich and poor: why we're better off than we think. New York: Basic Books</ref>

It was reported by Pew Research Center in 2016 that, for the first time in 130 years, Americans aged 18 to 34 are more likely to live with their parents than in any other housing situation.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2016/may/27/housing-market-real-estate-millennials-living-at-home-with-parents Millennials aren't buying homes right now. What if they never do?] ''[[The Guardian]].'' May 27, 2016.</ref>

In one study by ATTOM Data Solutions, in 70% of the counties surveyed, homes are increasingly unaffordable for the average U.S. worker.<ref>{{cite news |last=Min |first=Sarah |date=March 28, 2019|title=Average Americans can't afford a home in 70 percent of the country|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/housing-market-2019-americans-cant-afford-a-home-in-70-percent-of-the-country|work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=April 1, 2019}}</ref>

As of 2018, the number of U.S. citizens residing in their vehicles increased in major cities with significantly higher than average housing costs such as [[Los Angeles]], [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]] and [[San Francisco]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Berr |first=Johnathan |date=July 31, 2018 |title=More Americans are forced to "reside" in their vehicles|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-americans-are-living-in-their-vehicles-amid-high-housing-prices/|work=[[CBS MoneyWatch]]|access-date=August 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/gov-homeless-shelter-car.html |first=Mattie|last=Quinn|title='It's the New Form of Affordable Housing': More People Are Living in Their Cars|magazine=[[Governing (magazine)|Governing]]|date=July 24, 2018|access-date=January 19, 2019}}</ref>

According to [[CNBC]], the median sale price for a U.S. home in 2017 was US$199,200.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Emmie |title=MONEY Here's how much housing prices have skyrocketed over the last 50 years |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/23/how-much-housing-prices-have-risen-since-1940.html |access-date=April 6, 2023 |work=[[CNBC]] |date=June 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328034119/https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/23/how-much-housing-prices-have-risen-since-1940.html |archive-date=March 28, 2023 |language=en|url-status=live}}</ref> By February 2023, the median U.S. home sale price grew to US$392,000 according to [[Statista]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/272776/median-price-of-existing-homes-in-the-united-states-from-2011/#:~:text=Median%20sale%20price%20of%20existing,2022%20with%20forecast%20for%202023&text=In%20the%20third%20quarter%20of,by%20the%20end%20of%202023. | title=Median home price in the U.S. 2022 and forecast until 2023 }}</ref> The US has a country-wide housing shortage caused by insufficient housing construction (which declined severely after the 2008 [[Great Recession]]), and has caused rents and home prices to rise to increasingly unaffordable levels, with one estimate of the shortage being 3.8 million units in 2019, with this shortage having gotten worse during and since the pandemic.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fanniemae.com/research-and-insights/perspectives/us-housing-shortage | title=U.S. Housing Shortage: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once &#124; Fannie Mae }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/10/26/housing-market-worsens-mortgage-interest-rates/10588515002/ | title=The US housing shortage is 'awful' and will likely get worse with no apparent end in sight | website=[[USA Today]] }}</ref>

As of January 2024, in roughly half of cities in the U.S., workers need incomes of $100,000 or more in order to purchase a home as a result of rising housing prices and interest rate hikes.<ref>{{cite news |last=Picchi|first=Aimee|date=January 12, 2024 |title=Here's why Americans are so unhappy with the economy, in 3 charts|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/economy-inflation-why-americans-are-so-unhappy-three-charts/|work=[[CBS News]] |location= |access-date=January 12, 2024}}</ref>

===Profits and wages===
[[File:Wages in the United States.webp|thumb|300px|Wages in the United States
{{legend-line|#5E5E5E solid 3px|[[Nominalism|Nominal]] wages}}
{{legend|#0094EC|outline=#0076BA|[[Adjusted-for-inflation|Adjusted for inflation]] wages}}
]]
{{See also|List of U.S. states and territories by median wage and mean wage}}

[[Real wages]] (wages adjusted for inflation) for most workers in the United States and median incomes have either declined or remained stagnant for the last twenty to forty years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bergsten |first=C. Fred |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1255691875 |title=The United States vs. China : the quest for global economic leadership |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-5095-4735-7 |location=Cambridge |pages=303 |oclc=1255691875}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Nathaniel |title=Why American wages haven't grown despite increases in productivity |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/19/heres-how-labor-dynamism-affects-wage-growth-in-america.html |access-date=November 25, 2022 |website=CNBC |date=July 19, 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=DeSilver |first=Drew |title=For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/ |access-date=November 25, 2022 |website=Pew Research Center |date=August 7, 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wage Stagnation in Nine Charts |url=https://www.epi.org/publication/charting-wage-stagnation/ |access-date=November 25, 2022 |website=Economic Policy Institute |language=en-US}}</ref> A 2020 microanalysis demonstrated that in the preceding four decades labor's share of national output declined while over the same period the profit share of the same output increased.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mattei|first=Clara E.|date=2022 |title=The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way to Fascism|page=18|url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo181707138.html|location= |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=978-0226818399}}</ref>

In 1970, [[wage]]s represented more than 51% of the U.S. GDP and profits were less than 5%. But by 2013, wages had fallen to 44% of the economy, while profits had more than doubled to 11%.<ref name="DThompson">{{cite news|last=Derek|first=Thompson|title=Corporate Profits Are Eating the Economy|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/corporate-profits-are-eating-the-economy/273687/|access-date=March 18, 2013|newspaper=The Atlantic|date=March 4, 2013}}</ref> Inflation-adjusted ("real") per capita [[Disposable and discretionary income|disposable personal income]] rose steadily in the U.S. from 1945 to 2008, but has since remained generally level.<ref>[http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=f3v "Real Disposable Personal Income: Per capita"] ''Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis'', 2013</ref><ref>[http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/25/1495171/the-rich-are-enjoying-the-recovery-while-wages-fall-for-everyone-else/ "The Rich Are Enjoying The Recovery While Wages Fall For Everyone Else"] ''ThinkProgress'', January 25, 2013.</ref>

In 2005, median personal income for those over the age of 18 ranged from $3,317 for an unemployed, married [[Asian American]] female<ref name="US Census Bureau, females, 18 or older, unemployed, personal income, 2005">{{cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_067.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205211730/http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_067.htm|archive-date=February 5, 2012|title=US Census Bureau, females, 18 or older, unemployed, personal income, 2005|access-date=December 8, 2006}}</ref> to $55,935 for a full-time, year-round employed Asian American male.<ref name="US Census Bureau, male, 18 or older, employed full-time year round, 2005">{{cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_037.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205211741/http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_037.htm|archive-date=February 5, 2012|title=US Census Bureau, male, 18 or older, employed full-time year round, 2005|access-date=December 8, 2006}}</ref> According to the U.S. Census men tended to have higher income than women while Asians and [[White American|Whites]] earned more than [[African American]]s and [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanics]]. The overall median personal income for all individuals over the age of 18 was $24,062<ref name="US Census Bureau, 18+ age, 2005">{{cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_001.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205211745/http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_001.htm|archive-date=February 5, 2012|title=US Census Bureau, 18+ age, 2005|access-date=December 8, 2006}}</ref> ($32,140 for those age 25 or above) in the year 2005.<ref name="US Census Bureau, Personal income for all sexes, races in 2005">{{cite web |url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_001.htm |title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for all sexes, races in 2005 |access-date=November 19, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070319232115/http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_001.htm |archive-date=March 19, 2007 }}</ref>

As a reference point, the minimum wage rate in 2009 and 2017 was $7.25 per hour or $15,080 for the 2080 hours in a typical work year. The minimum wage is a little more than the poverty level for a single person unit and about 50% of the [[Poverty in the United States|poverty level]] for a family of four.

According to an October 2014 report by the [[Pew Research Center]], [[real wages]] have been flat or falling for the last five decades for most U.S. workers, regardless of job growth.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/|title=For most workers, real wages have barely budged for decades|last=Desilver|first=Drew|date=October 9, 2014|publisher=Pew Research Center|access-date=July 20, 2018|quote=But a look at five decades' worth of government wage data suggests that the better question might be, why should now be any different? For most U.S. workers, real wages{{snd}}that is, after inflation is taken into account{{snd}}have been flat or even falling for decades, regardless of whether the economy has been adding or subtracting jobs.|archive-date=August 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806142636/http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bloomberg reported in July 2018 that real GDP per capita has grown substantially since the Great Recession.<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Noah |date=July 25, 2018|title=How About a Free Market for Wages?|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-07-25/states-should-ban-contracts-barring-workers-from-joining-rivals |work=Bloomberg Opinion |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref>

An August 2017 survey by [[CareerBuilder]] found that eight out of ten U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck. CareerBuilder spokesman Mike Erwin blamed "stagnant wages and the rising cost of everything from education to many consumer goods".<ref>{{cite news |last=Picchi |first=Aimee |date=August 24, 2017 |title=Vast number of Americans live paycheck to paycheck|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/americans-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/|work=[[CBS News]] |access-date=August 25, 2017}}</ref> According to a survey by the federal [[Consumer Financial Protection Bureau]] on the financial well-being of U.S. citizens, roughly half have trouble paying bills, and more than one third have faced hardships such as not being able to afford a place to live, running out of food, or not having enough money to pay for medical care.<ref>{{cite news |last=Albrecht |first=Leslie |date=September 27, 2017 |title=One-third of American households can't afford food, shelter or medical care|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/one-third-of-american-households-cant-afford-food-shelter-or-medical-care-2017-09-27|work=[[Marketwatch]] |access-date=October 6, 2017}}</ref> According to journalist and author [[Alissa Quart]], the cost of living is rapidly outpacing the growth of salaries and wages, including those for traditionally secure professions such as teaching. She writes that "middle-class life is now 30% more expensive than it was 20 years ago."<ref>{{cite news |last=Getlen |first=Larry |date=July 23, 2018|title=America's middle class is slowly being 'wiped out'|url=https://www.marketwatch.com/story/americas-middle-class-is-slowly-being-wiped-out-2018-07-23|work=[[MarketWatch]]|access-date=July 29, 2018}}</ref>

In February 2019, the [[Federal Reserve Bank of New York]] reported that seven million U.S. citizens are three months or more behind on their car payments, setting a record. This is considered a red flag by economists, that Americans are struggling to pay bills in spite of a low unemployment rate.<ref>{{cite news |last= Long|first=Heather|date=February 13, 2019 |title=Record 7 million Americans are 3 months behind on car payments|url=https://www.boston.com/cars/car-news/2019/02/13/record-7-million-americans-are-3-months-behind-on-car-payments|work=boston.com |access-date=February 15, 2019}}</ref> A May 2019 poll conducted by [[NPR]] found that among rural Americans, 40% struggle to pay for healthcare, food and housing, and 49% could not pay cash for a $1,000 emergency, and would instead choose to borrow in order to pay for such an unexpected emergency expense.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Neel |first1=Joe|last2=Neighmond |first2=Patti |date=May 21, 2019|title=Poll: Many Rural Americans Struggle With Financial Insecurity, Access To Health Care|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/05/21/725059882/poll-many-rural-americans-struggle-with-financial-insecurity-access-to-health-ca|work=NPR |access-date=May 21, 2019}}</ref> Some experts assert that the US has experienced a "two-tier recovery", which has benefitted 60% of the population, while the other 40% on the "lower tier" have been struggling to pay bills as the result of stagnant wages, increases in the cost of housing, education and healthcare, and growing debts.<ref>{{cite news |last=Long |first=Heather|date=July 4, 2019 |title='This doesn't look like the best economy ever': 40% of Americans say they still struggle to pay bills |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/this-doesnt-look-like-the-best-economy-ever-40percent-of-americans-say-they-still-struggle-to-pay-bills/ar-AADRErK?li=BBnbcA1|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=July 5, 2019}}</ref>

A 2021 study by the [[National Low Income Housing Coalition]] found that workers would have to make at least $24.90 an hour to be able to afford (meaning 30% of a person's income or less) renting a standard two-bedroom home or $20.40 for a one-bedroom home anywhere in the US. The former is 3.4 times higher than the current federal minimum wage.<ref>{{cite news |last=Romo |first=Vanessa |date=July 14, 2021 |title=Rents Are Out Of Reach For Most Americans Earning Minimum Wage, A Study Says |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/07/14/1016230724/rents-are-out-of-reach-for-most-americans-earning-minimum-wage-a-study-says |work=NPR |location= |access-date=July 15, 2021}}</ref>

The [[USCB]] reported in September 2023 that incomes fell last year by 2.3% from 2021, which is the third consecutive year incomes have declined.<ref>{{cite news |last=Picchi |first=Aimee |date=September 12, 2023 |title=America's poverty rate soared last year. Children were among the worst hit.|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/poverty-rate-census-income/|work=CBS News |location= |access-date=September 15, 2023}}</ref>

===Poverty===
{{Main|Poverty in the United States}}
[[File:Number in Poverty and Poverty Rate 1959 to 2011. United States..PNG|thumb|upright=1.8|Number in poverty and poverty rate: 1959 to 2016. United States.]]
Starting in the 1980s [[relative poverty]] rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations, though analyses using a common data set for comparisons tend to find that the U.S. has a lower absolute poverty rate by market income than most other wealthy nations.<ref name="National Research Council">{{cite book |title=U.S. Health in International Perspective |url= http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13497&page=171 |publisher=National Research Council and Institute of Medicine |access-date=April 8, 2013 |author1=Woolf, Steven |author2=Aaron, Laudon |year = 2013|pages=171–72|doi = 10.17226/13497|pmid = 24006554|isbn = 978-0-309-26414-3}}</ref> [[Extreme poverty]] in the United States, meaning households living on less than $2 per day before government benefits, doubled from 1996 levels to 1.5 million households in 2011, including 2.8 million children.<ref name=NatlPovertyCtr>[http://npc.umich.edu/publications/policy_briefs/brief28/policybrief28.pdf "Extreme Poverty in the United States, 1996 to 2011"] ''National Poverty Center'', February 2012.</ref> In 2013, [[child poverty]] reached record high levels, with 16.7 million children living in [[Famine scales#Combined intensity and magnitude scales|food insecure]] households, about 35% more than 2007 levels.<ref name=WalkerBBC>{{cite news|last=Walker|first=Duncan|title=The children going hungry in America|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21636723|access-date=March 13, 2013|newspaper=BBC News|date=March 6, 2013}}</ref> As of 2015, 44 percent of children in the United States live with low-income families.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/nccp-finds-44-percent-u-s-children-live-low-income-families/ Report finds 44 percent of U.S. children live in low-income families]. ''PBS Newshour''. April 6, 2015.</ref>

In 2016, 12.7% of the U.S. population [[Poverty in the United States|lived in poverty]], down from 13.5% in 2015. The poverty rate rose from 12.5% in 2007 before the [[Great Recession]] to a 15.1% peak in 2010, before falling back to just above the 2007 level. In the 1959–1962 period, the poverty rate was over 20%, but declined to the all-time low of 11.1% in 1973 following the [[War on Poverty]] begun during the Lyndon Johnson presidency.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-259.html| title = U.S. Census Bureau{{snd}}Income and Poverty in the United States 2016}}</ref> In June 2016, The IMF warned the United States that its high poverty rate needs to be tackled urgently.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/business-36599316 IMF warns the US over high poverty]. BBC, June 22, 2016.</ref>

[[File:Total US family wealth timeline by wealth group.png|thumb|250px|[[Wealth inequality in the United States]] increased from 1989 to 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Trends in Family Wealth, 1989 to 2013|url=https://www.cbo.gov/publication/51846|date=August 18, 2016|work=[[Congressional Budget Office]]}}</ref>]]
The population in extreme-poverty neighborhoods rose by one third from 2000 to 2009.<ref name="Concentrated Poverty">Kneebone, Elizabeth; Nadeau, Carey; Berube, Alan (November 3, 2011). [http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2011/11/03-poverty-kneebone-nadeau-berube "The Re-Emergence of Concentrated Poverty: Metropolitan Trends in the 2000s"]. ''[[Brookings Institution]].''</ref> People living in such neighborhoods tend to suffer from inadequate access to quality education; higher crime rates; higher rates of physical and psychological ailment; limited access to credit and wealth accumulation; higher prices for goods and services; and constrained access to job opportunities.<ref name="Concentrated Poverty" /> As of 2013, 44% of America's poor are considered to be in "deep poverty", with an income 50% or more below the government's official poverty line.<ref>Shah, Neil (October 11, 2013).[https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304500404579127603306039292 U.S. Poverty Rate Stabilizes{{snd}}For Some]. ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' (New York).</ref>

According to the US [[Department of Housing and Urban Development]]'s Annual Homeless Assessment Report, {{As of|2024|lc=y}} there were around 771,480 [[Homelessness in the United States|homeless people in the United States]] on a given night, or about 23 of every 10,000 people.<ref>{{cite news |last=Singh|first=Kanishka |date=December 27, 2024|title=US homelessness rose by record 18% in latest annual data|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-homelessness-rose-by-record-18-latest-annual-data-2024-12-27/|work=[[Reuters]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=February 13, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Waldmeir |first=Patti |date=February 10, 2025 |title=The growing problem of child homelessness in the US|url=https://www.ft.com/content/c95893f4-1d7c-473a-a5fe-17b49acd56f1|work=[[Financial Times]] |location= |publisher= |access-date=February 13, 2025}}</ref> Almost two thirds stayed in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program and the other third were living on the street, in an abandoned building, or another place not meant for human habitation. About 1.56 million people, or about 0.5% of the U.S. population, used an emergency shelter or a transitional housing program between October 1, 2008, and September 30, 2009.<ref name=HUDhomeless2009>{{cite web|url=http://www.huduser.org/publications/pdf/5thHomelessAssessmentReport.pdf |title=HUD 5th Annual Homelessness Assessment Report to Congress, June 2010 |access-date=October 20, 2013}}</ref> Around 44% of homeless people are employed.<ref>[http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/employment.html Employment and Homelessness] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190526022516/http://www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/employment.html|date=May 26, 2019}}. ''[[National Coalition for the Homeless]],'' July 2009.</ref> Homelessness increased from 2016 to 2020, along with deaths among the homeless population.<ref>{{cite web | last=McCormick | first=Erin | title='Homelessness is lethal': US deaths among those without housing are surging | website=[[The Guardian]] | date=February 7, 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/feb/07/homelessness-is-lethal-deaths-have-risen-dramatically | access-date=June 16, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:New Orleans Homeless Camp (Cropped).jpg|alt=A homeless camp under a highway bridge in New Orleans, LA|thumb|A homeless camp in New Orleans, March 2023]]

The United States has one of the least extensive social safety nets in the developed world, reducing both relative poverty and absolute poverty by [[Welfare's effect on poverty|considerably less than the mean for wealthy nations]].<ref name="Sme">{{cite journal |last1= Smeeding |first1= T.M. |year=2005 |title= Public Policy: Economic Inequality and Poverty: The United States in Comparative Perspective| journal= Social Science Quarterly |volume=86 |pages=955–83 |doi= 10.1111/j.0038-4941.2005.00331.x|doi-access= free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1= Kenworthy |first1= L. |year= 1999 |title= Do Social-Welfare Policies Reduce Poverty? A Cross-National Assessment| journal =Social Forces|volume = 77|issue=3|pages= 1119–39 |doi=10.1093/sf/77.3.1119|url= https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/160860/1/lis-wps-188.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=Bradley, D. |author2=E. Huber |author3=S. Moller |author4=F. Nielsen |author5=J.D. Stephens |name-list-style=amp|year=2003 | title = Determinants of Relative Poverty in Advanced Capitalist Democracies| journal = American Sociological Review | volume = 68 | issue = 1| pages = 22–51 | doi = 10.2307/3088901 |jstor=3088901|s2cid=144289954 }}</ref><ref>Kevin Drum (September 26, 2013). [https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/09/we-can-reduce-poverty-if-we-want-we-just-have-want We Can Reduce Poverty If We Want To. We Just Have To Want To.] ''[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]].''</ref><ref>Gould, Elise and Wething, Hilary (July 24, 2012). [http://www.epi.org/publication/ib339-us-poverty-higher-safety-net-weaker/ "U.S. poverty rates higher, safety net weaker than in peer countries."] ''[[Economic Policy Institute]].''</ref> Some experts posit that those in poverty live in conditions rivaling the [[Developing country|developing world]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Temin|first=Peter|author-link=Peter Temin|date=2017 |title=The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy|url=https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/vanishing-middle-class|publisher= [[MIT Press]]|isbn=978-0262036160}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= Alston|first=Philp|date=December 15, 2017 |title=Extreme poverty in America: read the UN special monitor's report|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/15/extreme-poverty-america-un-special-monitor-report|work=The Guardian |access-date=December 16, 2017}}</ref> A May 2018 report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights found that over five million people in the United States live "in 'Third World' conditions".<ref>{{cite news |date=June 4, 2018|title="Contempt for the poor in US drives cruel policies," says UN expert|url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2018/06/contempt-poor-us-drives-cruel-policies-says-un-expert|work=OHCHR|access-date=June 6, 2018}}</ref> Poverty is the fourth leading risk factor for premature death annually, according to a 2023 study published in ''[[JAMA]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Danelski |first=David |date=April 17, 2023|title=Poverty is the 4th greatest cause of U.S. deaths|url=https://news.ucr.edu/articles/2023/04/17/poverty-4th-greatest-cause-us-deaths|work=news.ucr.edu|location= |access-date=June 23, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brady|first1=David |last2=Kohler|first2=Ulrich|last3=Zheng|first3=Hui |date=2023|title=Novel Estimates of Mortality Associated With Poverty in the US|url= |journal=The Journal of the American Medical Association|volume=183 |issue=6 |pages=504–628|doi=10.1001/jamainternmed.2023.0276|pmid=37067817 |pmc=10111231 |access-date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Jarow|first=Oshan |date=July 14, 2023|title=Poverty is a major public health crisis. Let's treat it like one.|url=https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23792854/poverty-mortality-study-public-health-antipoverty-america-deaths-poor-life-expectancy|work=Vox  |location= |access-date=September 3, 2023|quote=Their results find poverty is America’s fourth-leading risk factor for death, behind only heart disease, cancer, and smoking. A single year of poverty, defined relatively in the study as having less than 50 percent of the US median household income, is associated with 183,000 American deaths per year. Being in “cumulative poverty,” or 10 years or more of uninterrupted poverty, is associated with 295,000 annual deaths.}}</ref> Over the last three decades the poor in America have been [[Incarceration in the United States|incarcerated]] at a much higher rate than their counterparts in other developed nations, with penal confinement being "commonplace for poor men of working age".<ref>Bruce Western. [https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/23042281?uid=3739896&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104624536741 Poverty Politics and Crime Control in Europe and America]. ''[[Contemporary Sociology]]''
Vol. 40, No. 3 (May 2011), pp. 283–86</ref> Some scholars contend that the shift to [[Neoliberalism|neoliberal]] social and economic policies starting in the late 1970s has expanded the penal state, retrenched the social [[welfare state]], deregulated the economy and criminalized poverty, ultimately "transforming what it means to be poor in America".<ref>Stephen Haymes, Maria Vidal de Haymes and Reuben Miller (eds), ''[http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415673440/ The Routledge Handbook of Poverty in the United States],'' (London: [[Routledge]], 2015), {{ISBN|0415673445}}, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=qnHfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 3], [https://books.google.com/books?id=qnHfBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA346 346].</ref><ref>[[Loïc Wacquant]], ''[https://www.dukeupress.edu/Punishing-the-Poor/ Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190223135712/https://www.dukeupress.edu/Punishing-the-Poor/index-viewby%3Dtitle%26sort%3D.html |date=February 23, 2019}},'' ([[Duke University Press]], 2009), {{ISBN|082234422X}}, pp. 125–16, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NkyFsGi2erEC&pg=PT336 312]</ref><ref>Marie Gottschalk. ''[http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10731.html Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics].'' [[Princeton University Press]], 2014. {{ISBN|0691164053}} [https://books.google.com/books?id=CzDFCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 p. 10]</ref>

Sociologist [[Matthew Desmond]] writes in his 2023 book ''[[Poverty, by America]]'' that the US "offers some of the lowest wages in the industrialized world," which has "swelled the ranks of the working poor, most of whom are thirty-five or older."<ref>{{cite book |last=Desmond|first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Desmond|date=2023 |title=[[Poverty, by America]]|url= |location= |publisher=Crown Publishing Group|page=62 |isbn=9780593239919}}</ref> Social scientist [[Mark Robert Rank]] asserts that the high rates of poverty in the U.S. can largely be explained as structural failures at the economic and political levels.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rank|first=Mark Robert |author-link=Mark Robert Rank|date=2023|title=The Poverty Paradox: Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGewEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA4|location= |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=4, 121 |isbn= 978-0190212636|quote=The tendency of our free market economy has been to produce a growing number of jobs that will no longer support a family. In addition, the basic nature of capitalism ensures that unemployment exists at modest levels. Both of these directly result in a shortage of economic opportunities in American society. In addition, the absence of social supports stems from failings at the political and policy levels. The United States has traditionally lacked the political desire to put in place effective policies and programs that would support the economically vulnerable. Structural failing at the economic and political levels have therefore produced a lack of opportunities and supports, resulting in high rates of American poverty. (p.121)}}</ref>