Inequality

Visualizing the Extreme Concentration of Global Wealth

Published

7 years ago

December 26, 2018

Nick Routley

In recent decades, extreme world poverty has declined significantly and many millions of people have joined the swelling ranks of the middle class – particularly in China.

While these economic shifts are positive, it’s the other end of the global wealth spectrum that attracts the most attention. A high degree of wealth creation is amassed by those at the top of the economic pyramid.

The Top-Heavy Wealth Spectrum

Today, slightly less than 1% of the world’s adult population occupies the $1M+ wealth range. Despite their small numbers, this elite group collectively controls 46% of the world’s wealth, valued at approximately $129 trillion.

On the flip side of the equation, 70% of world’s population fall into the sub-$10K wealth band. This majority of people around the world collectively control a mere 2.7% of the world’s wealth.

Even as “the rich get richer”, there is good news for the majority. The percentage of people in that lowest wealth band has been shrinking over the years.

Moneyed Metropolises

Not only is money concentrated among a small portion of the population, those people tend to gravitate towards global cities such as London, Hong Kong, and New York.

In fact, 70% of ultra high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) – persons with investable assets of $30 million or more – reside in just ten cities around the world.

According to Credit Suisse, emerging markets now account for 22% of growth in the UHNWIs category – up from just 6% growth in 2000 – with China alone adding over 16,000 UHNWIs to the mix. Many members of this elite class may generate their wealth in emerging economies around the world, but as we can see from the map above, the world’s richest people end up very concentrated, geographically speaking.

Global Wealth, by Continent

As the visualization below demonstrates, wealth accumulates in Europe and North America. This trend is so pronounced that it only becomes evident once the scale is adjusted to see the detail in the upper percentiles.

One thing is for certain – the world is changing quickly, and just as this graph would have looked very different 20 years ago, global wealth will almost certainly look different in 20 years time.

Related Topics:inequality global wealth the 1%wealth distribution

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Mapped: U.S. Income Inequality by State

While income inequality in Texas and Florida mirror the national average, Washington D.C. faces more pronounced wage gaps.

Published

6 months ago

December 2, 2025

Dorothy Neufeld

Map showing income inequality by state in 2024.

Mapped: U.S. Income Inequality by State

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

Income inequality in America is high, with the top 20% of earners receiving more than half of all income.
Washington, D.C. and New York have the most extreme income inequality nationwide, driven by favorable tax policies and the concentration of billionaire wealth.

The wealth of America’s top 1% sits around $52 trillion today, rising by $4 trillion over the year.

Overall, the top 1% of U.S. earners need to make around $800,000 or more in salary per household. Meanwhile, about 30% of American households earned less than $50,000 last year, highlighting clear divides in wage distribution across the country.

This graphic shows income inequality by state, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Spectrum of Income Inequality in America

In 2024, the U.S. Gini coefficient was 0.48, representing a high degree of inequality.

Effectively, a score of one means that a single person would earn all of the income, and 0 would represent perfect equality. Last year, the top 20% of earners pocketed 52.2% of the country’s income according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In contrast, the bottom fifth of earners received just 3.1%.

Yet, income is distributed differently across states. Last year, income inequality was the most severe in Washington, D.C. and New York, each with a 0.52 Gini index score.

State	Gini Coefficient 2024
District of Columbia	0.52
New York	0.52
Connecticut	0.50
Louisiana	0.49
California	0.49
Massachusetts	0.48
Illinois	0.48
Florida	0.48
Texas	0.48
North Carolina	0.48
Mississippi	0.48
Pennsylvania	0.47
Tennessee	0.47
Alabama	0.47
Georgia	0.47
Washington	0.47
New Mexico	0.47
Arkansas	0.47
Rhode Island	0.47
New Jersey	0.47
Kentucky	0.47
Oklahoma	0.47
Virginia	0.47
Michigan	0.47
West Virginia	0.47
South Carolina	0.47
Nevada	0.47
Missouri	0.46
Ohio	0.46
Arizona	0.46
Colorado	0.46
Wyoming	0.46
Montana	0.46
North Dakota	0.46
Maine	0.46
Maryland	0.46
Kansas	0.46
Oregon	0.46
Vermont	0.46
Hawaii	0.45
Indiana	0.45
Minnesota	0.45
Delaware	0.45
New Hampshire	0.45
Nebraska	0.45
South Dakota	0.44
Wisconsin	0.44
Alaska	0.44
Iowa	0.44
Idaho	0.43
Utah	0.42

In Washington, D.C. the top 20% of earners made 27 times more than the bottom 20% in 2023 according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which is the highest ratio of any state between the top and bottom quintiles.

New York, on the other hand, is home to more billionaires than any other state except for California, creating huge disparities in income. Since 2019, real wage growth among the Big Apple’s top 3% soared 34.5%, more than triple all other income tiers.

Falling near the U.S. average are Florida, Texas, and Massachusetts, providing a more representative picture of income inequality in the country.

In comparison, Utah ranks lowest overall, a position it has regularly held for some time. Utah has the sixth-highest employment share (65.4%) in the country, keeping average family incomes more even.

Along with this, Utah has one of the best social mobility index scores nationwide, likely influenced by narrower wage disparities.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on wealth inequality by country in 2025.

Personal Finance

Mean vs. Median: Visualizing Net Worth in the U.S. by Age Group

This graphic breaks down the average net worth by age, highlighting the shocking difference between mean and median values.

Published

6 months ago

November 26, 2025

Marcus Lu

Mean vs. Median: Visualizing Net Worth in the U.S. by Age

See visuals like this from many other data creators on our Voronoi app. Download it for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

Key Takeaways

Mean net worth is the average calculated by adding all net worth values and dividing by the number of households, making it sensitive to very wealthy outliers.
Median net worth represents the middle value where half of households have more and half have less, giving a clearer view of the typical household’s financial position.

The relationship between age and wealth offers insight into how financial security builds over time. In this graphic, we compare the mean and median household net worth across age groups, showing how dramatically the two averages can differ.

Due to extreme wealth (e.g. the presence of billionaires), the mean average paints a more optimistic picture than what most households actually experience. As a result, looking at both averages side by side gives a more complete view of American wealth.

Data & Discussion

The data for this visualization comes from Empower. It compares the average net worth by age in America.

Age by decade	Mean Average	Median Average
20s	$121,004	$6,609
30s	$307,343	$24,247
40s	$743,456	$75,719
50s	$1,330,746	$191,857
60s	$1,547,378	$290,447
70s	$1,444,413	$233,085
80s	$1,342,656	$233,436
90s	$1,212,583	$205,043

How Net Worth is Calculated

Net worth is the total value of your assets minus your liabilities. Here’s a summary of what the Federal Reserve includes under each category.

Assets include:

💵 Cash within bank accounts
📈 Investment accounts and life insurance policies
🏦 Retirement accounts, including IRAs and 401(k)s
🏠 Value of real estate and vehicles

Meanwhile, liabilities include:

🏡 Mortgages
🏠 Home equity lines of credit or home equity loans
💳 Credit card balances
🚗 Installment loans, including personal loans, auto loans, and student loans

The Difference Between Mean and Median

Across every age group in the dataset, the mean net worth is larger than the median. For example, Americans in their 40s have a mean net worth of $743,456, yet the median sits at just $75,719.

This is because the mean is calculated by adding up all of the values in a dataset and dividing the total by the number of entries. As a result, very wealthy households pull the overall numbers upward.

On the other hand, the median is calculated by ordering all values from lowest to highest, and then selecting the middle one. This can be interpreted as a more realistic measure because it ignores the influence of a small number of extremely wealthy households.