Wealth held by middle class has dropped

After years of declines, America’s middle class now holds a smaller share of U.S. wealth than the top 1 percent.

The middle 60 percent of U.S. households by income — a measure economists often use as a definition of the middle class — saw their combined assets drop to 26.6 percent of national wealth as of June, the lowest in Federal Reserve data going back three decades. For the first time, the super rich had a bigger share, at 27 percent.

The data offers a window into the slow-motion erosion in the financial security of midtier earners that has fueled voters’ discontent in recent years. That continued through the COVID-19 pandemic, despite trillions of dollars in government relief.

While “middle class” has different meanings to different people, many economists use income to define the group. The 77.5 million families in the middle 60 percent make about $27,000 to $141,000 annually, based on Census Bureau data.

Their share in three main categories of assets — real estate, equities and private businesses — slumped in one generation. That made their lives more precarious, with fewer financial reserves to fall back on when they lose their jobs.

The top 1 percent represents about 1.3 million households who roughly make more than $500,000 a year — out of a total of almost 130 million. The concentration of wealth in the hands of a fraction of the population is at the core of some of the country’s major political battles.

President Joe Biden is seeking to bolster working- and middle-class families with a $3.5 trillion package before Congress that includes assistance with child care, education and health care paid for with tax increases on high-income individuals.

“If the economic system isn’t working for the clear majority of the population, it will eventually lose political support,” Nathan Sheets, newly appointed chief economist at Citigroup Inc., said by email. “This observation is motivating many of the economic reforms that the Biden administration is putting forward.”

Over the past 30 years, 10 percentage points of American wealth has shifted to the top 20 percent of earners, who now hold 70 percent of the total, Fed data shows.