Collective wealth of America's top 10 billionaires increased by $698 billion according to last year's report | Income inequality in the United States

The collective wealth of America's top 10 billionaires has soared by $698 billion over the past year, according to a new Oxfam America report released Monday on the growing wealth divide.

The report warns that the Trump administration's policies risk pushing inequality in the United States to new heights, but points out that both Republican and Democratic administrations have exacerbated the growing wealth gap in the United States.

Using Federal Reserve data from 1989 to 2022, the researchers also calculated that the top 1% of households gained 101 times more wealth than the median household over that period and 987 times the wealth of a household in the bottom 20th income percentile. This translated to a gain of $8.35 million per household for the top 1% of households, compared to $83,000 for the average household over that 33-year period.

At the same time, more than 40% of the U.S. population, including nearly 50% of children, is considered low-income, with family incomes below 200% of the national poverty line.

Looking at the 10 countries with the largest economies within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States has the highest rate of relative poverty, the second highest rate of child poverty and infant mortality, and the second lowest rate of life expectancy.

Inequality is a policy choice, said Rebecca Riddell, senior policy manager for economic justice at Oxfam America. These comparisons show us that we can make very different choices when it comes to poverty and inequality in our society.

The report describes how America's systems, including the tax code, social safety nets, and workers' rights and protections, have been slowly dismantled, allowing concentrated wealth to turn into concentrated power.

According to the report, Donald Trump's bill, passed by Congress in May, constitutes one of the largest wealth transfers in decades, cutting taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

But in recent decades, Republicans have not acted alone.

Policymakers chose inequality, and those choices had bipartisan support, Riddell said. The policy reforms of the past 40 years, from tax cuts and the social safety net to labor issues and beyond, have truly enjoyed bipartisan support.

The policy recommendations presented in the report fall into four categories: rebalancing power through campaign finance reform and antitrust policy; use the tax system to reduce inequality by imposing taxes on the wealthy and corporations; strengthen the social safety net; and protect unions.

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These solutions may be difficult to implement politically due to long-term stigma, including social safety nets and taxation. The report references the welfare queen concept popularized during Ronald Reagan's presidency in the 1980s, when taxation was traditionally seen as a repression of all rather than a tool to combat inequality.

What's really needed is a different kind of policy, Riddell said. One that aims to meet the needs of ordinary citizens by very quickly reducing inequalities. There are sound, proven reforms that could go a long way toward reversing the truly troubling trends we're seeing.

The report features interviews with community leaders who are actively working to reduce inequality, even as progress appears to stall on the national stage. In an interview in the report, activists with United Workers Maryland said the current moment seems ripe for opportunity as many Americans are beginning to understand that the current system isn't working for them, but only for the people at the very top.

I think it's great that they see this as an opportunity, Riddell said. I like to think of this moment as an opportunity to look around us and realize our broader power.

This article was modified on November 3, 2025. The Oxfam America report examines the 10 largest OECD economies, not all 38 countries.

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