{
  "id": 13168675,
  "title": "The surprising post-pandemic drop in income inequality",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/the-surprising-post-pandemic-drop-in-income-inequality",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-09T15:58:05.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Axios",
    "slug": "axios",
    "url": "https://www.axios.com/2026/10/09/income-biden-pandemic-inflation"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Federal Reserve released new data on Friday showing a surprising drop in income inequality during the post-pandemic period. While the median American family's income rose by 7% in inflation-adjusted terms between 2021 and 2024, this appeared to mask significant differences among income brackets. Contrary to the common narrative of a K-shaped economy, the average real income of families in the top 10% of earners actually fell by 14%, from $757,000 to $652,000 in 2025 dollars. This suggests that income inequality fell during the post-pandemic period.\n\nHowever, the story for wealth was very different. Families that were already wealthy saw their net worth soar, with the median net worth of families in the top 10% increasing by 31% from 2022 to 2025. In contrast, the median family's net worth only rose by 2% during the same period, and families in the bottom 40% actually saw a slight decline in net worth.\n\nThe data, collected every three years by the Survey of Consumer Finances, provides a rare glimpse into the financial well-being of American households. The survey revealed that blue-collar workers saw bigger raises during the tight job market and inflationary period of 2021 and 2022 than higher-earning white-collar professionals. Additionally, top earners often have income from volatile sources, such as capital gains and business income, which can lead to significant fluctuations in average incomes.\n\nThe Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes in 2022 and 2023, aimed at controlling inflation, also had a significant impact on borrowers. The median debt payment-to-income ratio rose by 2 percentage points from 2022 to 2025, reaching 15.4%. The share of families with debt payments exceeding 40% of their income also increased to 8.6% from 6.5%, marking a level not seen since the 2013 survey.\n\nIn summary, low earners experienced bigger percentage gains in their incomes, improving their purchasing power during the post-pandemic inflation, while the rich grew their wealth significantly. This differential growth in income and wealth highlights the complex nature of post-pandemic economic recovery.",
  "summary": "Data: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances; Chart: Neil Irwin/Axios Middle- and lower-earners' inflation-adjusted incomes rose during the Biden years — but high earners saw their incomes fall. That's a surprising finding from one of the most thorough datasets on American household finances , released Friday morning by the Federal Reserve. Why it matters: The data sheds granular new…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}