Signal US per capita wealth is $17.5 million in the top 1% against $9,600 in the bottom half

Summary

MGI cautions that average US wealth figures conceal a very wide distribution. The wealthiest 1 percent of Americans hold per capita wealth of $17.5 million, while the bottom half hold just $9,600 per person. Measured in purchasing power parity terms, the bottom 50 percent of Americans have less wealth per person than people in Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and major eurozone countries. They even fall below the level in China. US households as a whole hold more wealth than their Chinese counterparts, which makes the gap hidden behind the average all the more striking. The contrast underlines the report's broader concern that rising asset values tend to deepen wealth inequality, since existing owners capture most of the gains.