Only 0.1% of the wealthiest citizens living in the United States (US) are the owners of nearly 24% of the assets on Wall Street as a report from a UK-based independent confederation of non-governmental organisations (NGO), Oxfam, showed the rising inequality in the US economy.
“In 2025, the share of assets owned by the top 0.1% hit its highest on record since the Federal Reserve began publishing data in 1989 (12.6%), as did their share of the stock market (24%),” according to the Oxfam report.
The confederation also highlighted that the richest people, who make up for 1% of the total population of the United States, own 49.9% of the US stock market, while the bottom half of the population owns just 1.1% of Wall Street.
“The richest 1% own half the stock market (49.9%), while the bottom half of the US owns just 1.1% of the stock market,” said Oxfam in its report.
The United States is home to several billionaires in the world, as the nation accommodates wealthy individuals than any other country in the world. The top ten billionaires living in the United States became $698 billion dollars richer over the last one-year period.
“In the past year, the 10 richest U.S. billionaires got $698 billion dollars richer, and the arrival of the world’s first trillionaire grew more imminent,” the report mentioned.
Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Steve Ballmer, Jensen Huang, Warren Buffett, and Michael Dell are among the top 10 wealthiest individuals who are living in the US, according to the Forbes Rich List 2025.
The data highlighted rising inequality in the US economy, as the poorest households in the top 1% gained 987 times more wealth than the richest households in the bottom 20% of the population.
According to the US Census Bureau data, the median household income in America stood at $83,730 per year in 2024. The 2023 data showed that the number was $82,690 per year.
“As millions of Americans struggle to pay for the necessities of life—groceries, housing, care—billionaires and their cronies have weaponised our federal government to further enrich themselves and slash basic services,” Elizabeth Wilkins, the President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute.
This report comes as billionaire Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company is set to hold its shareholders’ meeting on Thursday, 6 November 2025, where stakeholders will vote on whether or not to approve the $1 trillion pay package for Elon Musk.
Mint reported earlier that US-based EV maker Tesla’s board in September 2025 proposed that the founder and CEO, Elon Musk, would get a $1 trillion compensation plan.