Editing Income distribution (section)

=== United States ===
{{Main article|Household income in the United States}}
{{Further|Income inequality in the United States}}
{{multiple image | total_width       = 550
| title             = Income growth since 1970
| image1            = 1970- Relative income growth by percentiles - US.png
| caption1          = Relative income growth, organized by percentile classes, normalized to 1970 levels. Graph accounts for both income growth, and the hidden decline in the progressivity of the tax code at the top, the wealthiest earners having seen their ''effective'' tax rates steadily fall.<ref name=WashPost_20191209>{{cite news |last1=Sargent |first1=Greg |title=The massive triumph of the rich, illustrated by stunning new data |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/09/massive-triumph-rich-illustrated-by-stunning-new-data/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209180702/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/12/09/massive-triumph-rich-illustrated-by-stunning-new-data/ |archive-date=December 9, 2019 |url-status=live }} — Original data and analysis: Zucman, Gabriel and Saez, Emmanuel, ''The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay,'' W. W. Norton & Company. October 15, 2019.</ref>
| image2            = 1970- Relative income growth by percentiles - US logarithmic.png
| caption2          = Same data<ref name=WashPost_20191209/> as adjacent chart, but plotted on [[logarithmic scale]] to show absolute dollar amounts. Data shows a range of three orders of magnitude—a ~1000-fold difference.
}}
2011: In the United States, income has become distributed more unequally over the past 30 years, with those in the top quintile (20 percent) earning more than the bottom 80 percent combined.<ref name=cbo>[http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12485 Congressional Budget Office: Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007]. October 2011.</ref>

2019: The wealthiest 10% of American households control nearly 75% of household net worth.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Stebbins|first=Grant Suneson and Samuel|title=These 15 countries have the widest gaps between rich and poor|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/05/28/countries-with-the-widest-gaps-between-rich-and-poor/39510157/|access-date=25 April 2021|website=USA TODAY|language=en-US}}</ref>

* Post-tax '''Gini''' coefficient: 0.39.
* '''Unemployment''' rate: 4.4%.
* '''GDP''' per capita: $53 632.
* '''Poverty''' rate: 11.1%.<ref name=NPR_2020-09-15 >{{ cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/09/15/913131697/american-incomes-were-rising-until-the-pandemic-hit | title=American Incomes Were Rising, Until The Pandemic Hit | last=Horsley | first=Scott | newspaper=[[NPR]] | date=16 September 2020 | access-date=16 September 2020 | quote=Were it not for those survey problems, the Census Bureau estimates, median household income would have risen just 3.8% and the poverty rate would have registered as 11.1%. }}</ref>

Low unemployment rate and high GDP are signs of the health of the U.S. economy. But there is almost 18% of people living below the poverty line and the Gini coefficient is quite high. That ranks the United States 9th income inequal in the world.<ref name=":0" />

The U.S. has the highest level of income inequality among its (post-)industrialized peers.<ref name="upi.com">United Press International (UPI), June 22, 2018, [https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2018/06/22/UN-report-With-40M-in-poverty-US-most-unequal-developed-nation/8671529664548/?spt=su "U.N. Report: With 40M in Poverty, U.S. Most Unequal Developed Nation"]</ref> When measured for all households, U.S. income inequality is comparable to other developed countries before taxes and transfers, but is among the highest after taxes and transfers, meaning the U.S. shifts relatively less income from higher income households to lower income households. In 2016, average market income was $15,600 for the lowest [[Quantile|quintile]] and $280,300 for the highest quintile. The degree of inequality accelerated within the top quintile, with the top 1% at $1.8 million, approximately 30 times the $59,300 income of the middle quintile.<ref name="CBO_2016">{{cite web|url=https://www.cbo.gov/publication/55413|title=The Distribution of Household Income, 2016|date=July 2019|website=www.cbo.gov|publisher=Congressional Budget Office|access-date=October 11, 2019}}</ref>

The economic and political impacts of inequality may include slower GDP growth, reduced [[Economic mobility|income mobility]], higher poverty rates, greater usage of [[household debt]] leading to increased risk of financial crises, and [[political polarization]].<ref name="Krueger2012">{{cite web|url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/01/12/chairman-alan-krueger-discusses-rise-and-consequences-inequality-center-american-pro|title=Chairman Alan Krueger Discusses the Rise and Consequences of Inequality at the Center for American Progress|last=Krueger|first=Alan|via=[[NARA|National Archives]]|work=[[whitehouse.gov]]|date=January 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="SA2020">{{cite journal |last1= Stewart |first1=Alexander J. |last2= McCarty |first2=Nolan |last3= Bryson |first3=Joanna J. |date=2020 |title=Polarization under rising inequality and economic decline
 |journal=[[Science Advances]] |volume=6 |issue=50 |pages= eabd4201|doi=10.1126/sciadv.abd4201|pmid=33310855 |pmc=7732181 |arxiv=1807.11477 |bibcode=2020SciA....6.4201S |s2cid=216144890 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Causes of inequality may include [[executive compensation]] increasing relative to the average worker, [[financialization]], greater [[Market concentration|industry concentration]], lower [[Union density|unionization rates]], lower effective tax rates on higher incomes, and technology changes that reward higher educational attainment.<ref name="NYTPorter2013">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/business/rethinking-the-income-gap-and-a-college-education.html|title=Rethinking the Rise of Inequality|last=Porter|first=Eduardo|date=November 12, 2013|publisher=NYT}}</ref>