Inequality Has Grown Under Trump

Since the start of the second Trump administration, the wealth gap between the richest Americans and the bottom half of the country has widened considerably. (see Figure 1) During three consecutive quarters in 2025, the share of total wealth held by the top 0.1 percent and the top 1 percent reached the highest levels on record since the Federal Reserve started tracking these data in 1989, with the latest data from 2026 showing it just below those peaks. Since the fourth quarter of 2024, the share of overall wealth held by the top 1 percent has grown from 31 percent to 31.6 percent, while the bottom half’s share has remained at a stagnant 2.5 percent. This gap has been driven wider by things such as soaring stock values and tax policy changes in the congressional Republican-passed Big Beautiful Bill that favor the wealthy, as well as persistently high debts for the middle and bottom of the wealth distribution. New Center for American Progress analysis of the Federal Reserve Board’s Distributional Financial Accounts shows that from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2026: Read Full Article »