The collective fortune of the top 10 billionaires in the United States has risen by a staggering $698 billion over the past year, according to a new Oxfam America report released on Monday, exposing the nation’s deepening wealth divide.
The report cautions that policies under the Trump administration could push inequality in the U.S. to record highs but adds that the growing gap between rich and poor has been fuelled by both Republican and Democratic governments over the decades.
Citing Federal Reserve data from 1989 to 2022, Oxfam found that the top 1% of households amassed 101 times more wealth than the median household and 987 times more than those in the bottom 20% of income earners. On average, each top-tier household gained $8.35 million, compared with just $83,000 for a typical household during that 33-year span.
At the same time, more than 40% of Americans, including nearly half of all children, are now considered low-income, earning less than 200% of the national poverty line. Among 38 high-income nations in the OECD, the U.S. ranks highest in relative poverty, second in child poverty and infant mortality, and second-lowest in life expectancy.
“Inequality is a policy choice,” said Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic justice at Oxfam America. “These comparisons show us that we can make very different choices when it comes to poverty and inequality in our society.”
The report argues that U.S. systems such as taxation, social welfare, and workers’ rights have been steadily weakened, concentrating both wealth and political power in the hands of a few. It highlights Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill”, passed by Congress in May, as one of the largest upward transfers of wealth in decades, citing its sweeping tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
But the report stresses that inequality has grown under both parties, noting that policy reforms over the past 40 years, from tax and welfare cuts to labour deregulation, have had bipartisan backing.
“What’s really needed is a different kind of politics,” Riddell said. “One that’s focused on delivering for ordinary people by really reducing inequality. There are sensible, proven reforms that could go a long way to reversing the troubling trends we see.”
The report also spotlights community movements pushing for change. Representatives of United Workers Maryland told Oxfam that many Americans now recognise how the current economic system works only for those at the top, presenting a crucial opportunity to demand change.
“I think it’s brilliant that they see this as an opportunity,” Riddell added. “I love thinking about this moment as a chance to look around us and realise our broader power.”