The stark decline of the US middle class is signaled by income distribution data, which shows that by 2023, the middle-income share had fallen to only 42.5% of the income earned by the top 90th percentile. This highlights a decades-long trend of wealth channeling toward the top.
This systemic wealth concentration, driven by political choices like tax laws and social program cuts, has fueled the simultaneous crisis of extreme poverty. Over four million Americans now live on less than $3 a day, tripling the figure from 35 years ago.
The income skew is damning: the poorest 10% of Americans receive a mere 1.8% of national income, a share lower than that of low-income groups in countries like Nigeria and Bangladesh. The system is structurally rigged against equitable distribution.
