Income Inequality in US Households by Quintiles (fifths)

Data for 2021

fifth of population Mean Household Income by quintile Upper Limit of each Quintile Percentage of total national income
top 5% 480,236 lower limit
286,304		 23.5
top 20% 269,356 unlimited 52.7
60th-80th percent 115,462 149,131 22.6
40th-60th percent 70,879 89,744 14.0
20th-40th percent 41,025 55,000 8.2
0-20th percent 14,859 28,007 3.0

 

Data for 1960

Quintile Upper Limit
1960
( 2021 dollars)		 Percentage of National Income Factor of income increase to 2021
Top 5% lower limit
13,536
(126,251)
 15.9 2.27
Top 20% no limit 41.3  
60th-80th percent 8,800
(82,078)		 24 1.8
40th-60th percent 6,364
(59,357)		 17.8 1.5
20th-40th percent 4,800
(44,770)		 12.2 1.2
0-20th percent 2,784
(25,955)		 4.8 1.1

 

Next: Household income versus household wealth

Factor of income increase to 2021: This means, for example, that the lower limit of the top 5% in 2021 was 2.27 times what it was in 1960 in real (inflation corrected) dollars. What this chart shows is that overall, the population was wealthier in 2021 than it was in 1960. However, this increased wealth was overwhelmingly captured by wealthier Americans. Those in the poorest 40% of the nation barely saw their wealth move at all in more than 60 years. Those in the wealthiest 40% of the nation saw their wealth more or less double.