With a $23.3 trillion economy – accounting for nearly a quarter of global economic output in 2021 – the United States is the wealthiest country in the world by a wide margin. But despite its economic strength, the U.S. is also home to some of the world’s highest levels of income inequality. According to the World Bank, the wealth gap between the rich and poor in the U.S. is more pronounced than in China, Russia, or any highly developed European country with available data.
The latest available figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that more than 41 million Americans live below the poverty line, which for a single household, for example, means (in most of the country) living on an annual income of $14,580 or less. Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, nearly 12.5 million American households earn more than $200,000 a year, and over 23% of all income in the U.S. is controlled by the top 5% of households by earnings.
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