Is there a difference between income inequality and wealth inequality?

Wealth measures both a family’s assets (like home equity or savings) and debts. Unlike income that comes in only when a family member is employed, wealth is a critical store of resources that enables households to deal with unexpected economic shocks — including recent experiences of job loss related to the pandemic. In 2019, the bottom 50% of the U.S. population owned just 1% of the wealth, but earned 15% of total household income. Income inequality has also been on the rise since the 1980s. From 1970 to 2018, the share of aggregate income going to middle-class households fell from 62% to 43% while the share of income going to upper-income households increased from 29% to 48%.