In Other News · United States

Source: Axios

Data: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances; Chart: Neil Irwin/AxiosMiddle- 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 information on a much-contested question: What happened to Americans' real incomes during the post-pandemic period? It featured an exceptionally tight job market and the highest inflation in decades, followed by aggressive Fed rate hikes.The median American family's income rose 7% in inflation-adjusted terms between 2021 and 2024. But that masked significant differences among income brackets.The average real income of families in the top 10% of earners fell 14%, to $652,000 from $757,000 (both figures are 2025 dollars).That implies, contrary to a common narrative about the K-shaped economy, that income inequality fell during the post-pandemic period.Yes, but: The story for wealth is very different. Families that were already wealthy — and tend to own stocks, houses and other assets — became much richer from 2022 to 2025.Among families in the top 10% of income, median net worth rose a whopping 31% from 2022 to 2025, compared...