12 Billionaires: Half the Country Can’t Match the Wealth

America’s top 12 billionaires now hold more combined wealth than the bottom half of the entire country — and the gap has grown by over $2 trillion in just five years.

Quick Take

The combined wealth of U.S. billionaires grew by $2.071 trillion — a 70% jump — since 2020, according to Forbes data analyzed by the Institute for Policy Studies.
The richest 1% of households now hold 31% of all U.S. wealth, nearly matching the entire bottom 90% combined, per Federal Reserve data.
The wealthiest families had 36 times more wealth than middle-class families in 1963. By 2022, that gap had grown to 71 times, according to the Urban Institute.
Some economists argue the gap, while real, is overstated because standard measurements leave out Social Security benefits and human capital from the equation.

The Numbers Behind the Gap

The wealth divide in America is not a theory — it shows up clearly in government data. The Federal Reserve reports that the top 1% of U.S. households held 31% of all wealth as of late 2023. The bottom 90% held only slightly more. The top 12 billionaires alone now hold a combined $2.7 trillion.^[1] Since 2020, U.S. billionaire wealth grew by more than $2 trillion.^[1] That is not a slow drift — it is a sharp climb.

The stock market tells the same story. The richest 1% own nearly 50% of all U.S. stocks, while the bottom half of Americans own just 1.1%.^[3] When the market goes up, the wealthy gain the most. When it drops, those with little invested feel it in jobs and prices, not portfolios. This dynamic helps explain why economic growth often feels invisible to working families even when headline numbers look strong.

A Gap Decades in the Making

This did not happen overnight. Pew Research Center data shows the wealth gap between the richest 5% of families and middle-income families more than doubled between 1989 and 2016 — from 114 times to 248 times.^[2] The Urban Institute found that between 1963 and 2022, wealthiest families went from holding 36 times to 71 times the wealth of middle-class families.^[6] The trend has been steady and steep across both Republican and Democratic administrations.

Racial gaps have grown alongside the overall divide. In 1983, white families held about $320,000 more in average wealth than Black and Hispanic families. By 2022, that gap had grown to over $1 million.^[6] These numbers reflect decades of policy choices, lending practices, and economic shifts — not just individual outcomes. They point to structural forces that have compounded over time, regardless of who held power in Washington.

Where the Debate Gets Complicated

Not everyone agrees on how bad the problem really is. The Cato Institute points out that widely cited wealth studies may overstate the gap. A 2019 study found that one major method for measuring top wealth shares produced numbers roughly twice as large as more careful estimates.^[17] Critics also argue that standard measurements leave out the value of Social Security and government benefits — assets that matter most to lower-income households. Include those, and the gap looks somewhat smaller.

There is also a historical question: is this gap truly “unprecedented”? Some analysts point out that the income gap is the widest it has been since the Roaring 20s — which means it has been this bad before. About 60% of billionaire wealth today comes from inheritance, cronyism, or monopoly power rather than purely from building new businesses.^[11] That raises a harder question: is the system rewarding hard work and innovation, or is it mostly recycling advantages that already exist?

Why This Matters to Everyday Americans

People across the political spectrum are starting to ask the same questions. On the right, many are frustrated that hard work no longer seems to guarantee a path to financial security. On the left, the concern is that a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals now has enormous influence over politics, media, and policy. Research published in a peer-reviewed journal found that rising inequality correlates with reduced media independence — meaning the wealthy have more power to shape what stories get told.^[14]

Whether the gap is “unprecedented” in a strict historical sense is a fair debate. But the core facts are not seriously in dispute. Wealth is concentrating at the top at a pace most Americans can feel. The question now is whether the people in power — in both parties — have the will to do anything about it, or whether the system will keep working exactly as it has been designed to work.

Ranked: The World’s Top Billionaire Cities in 2026
Key Takeaways
🔴New York leads the world with 146 billionaires, the highest concentration of billionaire wealth in any city.
🔴Chinese cities account for 34% of billionaires across the top 32 cities, with Shenzhen, Shanghai, and… pic.twitter.com/goOj0jcwPA

— TheNewsHawks (@NewsHawksLive) June 22, 2026