Americans have the highest average household and employee income among OECD nations, and in 2007 had the second-highest median household income.[514][515][516] According to the Census Bureau, median household income was $59,039 in 2016.[517] Accounting for 4.4% of the global population, Americans collectively possess 41.6% of the world's total wealth,[518] and Americans make up roughly half of the world's population of millionaires.[519] The Global Food Security Index ranked the U.S. number one for food affordability and overall food security in March 2013.[520] Americans on average have over twice as much living space per dwelling and per person as European Union residents, and more than every EU nation.[521] For 2013 the United Nations Development Programme ranked the United States 5th among 187 countries in its Human Development Index and 28th in its inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI).[522]
After years of stagnant growth, in 2016, according to the Census, median household income reached a record high after two consecutive years of record growth, although income inequality remains at record highs with top fifth of earners taking home more than half of all overall income.[517] There has been a widening gap between productivity and median incomes since the 1970s.[523] However, the gap between total compensation and productivity is not as wide because of increased employee benefits such as health insurance.[524] The rise in the share of total annual income received by the top 1 percent, which has more than doubled from 9 percent in 1976 to 20 percent in 2011, has significantly affected income inequality,[525] leaving the United States with one of the widest income distributions among OECD nations.[526] According to a 2018 study by the OECD, the United States has much higher income inequality and a larger percentage of low-income workers than almost any other developed nation. This is largely because at-risk workers get almost no government support and are further set back by a very weak collective bargaining system.[527] The top 1 percent of income-earners accounted for 52 percent of the income gains from 2009 to 2015, where income is defined as market income excluding government transfers,[528] The extent and relevance of income inequality is a matter of debate.[529][disputed – discuss][530]
United States' families median net worth source: Fed Survey of Consumer Finances[531] in 2013 dollars 1998 2013 change
All families $102,500 $81,200 -20.8%
Bottom 20% of incomes $8,300 $6,100 -26.5%
2nd lowest 20% of incomes $47,400 $22,400 -52.7%
Middle 20% of incomes $76,300 $61,700 -19.1%
Top 10% $646,600 $1,130,700 +74.9%
Wealth, like income and taxes, is highly concentrated; the richest 10% of the adult population possess 72% of the country's household wealth, while the bottom half claim only 2%.[532] According to a September 2017 report by the Federal Reserve, the top 1% controlled 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016.[533] Between June 2007 and November 2008 the global recession led to falling asset prices around the world. Assets owned by Americans lost about a quarter of their value.[534] Since peaking in the second quarter of 2007, household wealth was down $14 trillion, but has since increased $14 trillion over 2006 levels.[535][536] At the end of 2014, household debt amounted to $11.8 trillion,[537] down from $13.8 trillion at the end of 2008.[538]
There were about 578,424 sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons in the U.S. in January 2014, with almost two-thirds staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program.[539] In 2011 16.7 million children lived in food-insecure households, about 35% more than 2007 levels, though only 1.1% of U.S. children, or 845,000, saw reduced food intake or disrupted eating patterns at some point during the year, and most cases were not chronic.[540] According to a 2014 report by the Census Bureau, one in five young adults lives in poverty, up from one in seven in 1980.[541] As of September 2017, 40 million people, roughly 12.7% of the U.S. population, were living in poverty, with 18.5 million of those living in deep poverty (a family income below one-half of the poverty threshold). In 2016, 13.3 million children were living in poverty, which made up 32.6% of the impoverished population.[542]
In 2017, the region with the lowest poverty rate was New Hampshire (7.3%), and the region with the highest poverty rate was American Samoa (65%).[543][544][545] Among the states, the highest poverty rate was in Mississippi (21.9%).[546] According to the UN, around five million people in the U.S. live in "third world" conditions.[547]