Wealth inequality in US reaches all-time high
The share of the nation’s wealth held by the richest Americans has hit a new record. The top 1% now controls roughly 31.6% of all U.S. household wealth—the highest percentage in history.
The wealth of today’s billionaires even eclipses that of the robber barons of the early 1900s. Today’s top 0.00001% holds four times as much wealth as the same cohort did during America’s early industrial days.
And while the ultra-rich thrive, working people are falling behind on every front that matters—wages, housing, health care, retirement—as inflation steadily outpaces earnings.
Out of the inequality of the early 20th century, the American labor movement was born. To fight today’s inequality, union members will again be at the forefront.
Who has the power?
A June YouGov poll asked Americans to rate how much power 40 different groups hold in society—from political factions to demographic groups to economic classes like CEOs and workers.
Billionaires came out on top by every measure: 81% of Americans say billionaires wield a lot of economic power and 75% say the same of their
political power—the highest ratings of any group surveyed. CEOs weren’t far behind.
Workers, meanwhile, ranked near the bottom of the list for how much power people believe they actually have.
But ask Americans who should have more power, and the answer flips. Workers topped that list, with 64% of Americans saying working people deserve more power than they currently hold. Meanwhile, 62% said billionaires should have less power.
The message from the average American is clear: Concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few billionaires does not make for a healthy economy—or a healthy democracy.
Billionaires are buying elections
That imbalance of power is crashing into political life as well—billionaires are actively using their fortunes to tilt the playing field further in their own favor.
The 2026 primary cycle has already broken records. The Texas Republican Senate primary became the most expensive Senate primary in American history, with advertising spending topping $120 million.
A single U.S. House primary in Kentucky drew more than $34 million in outside spending, much of it from billionaires with no connection to the district.
A group of Silicon Valley billionaires raised over $100 million just to fight a proposed California state tax on their own wealth.
This is money working people don’t have—and it’s being used to influence elections in favor of politicians who will serve the interests of corporations and the mega-rich.
The money keeps flowing up
Every measure tells the same story: Working Americans’ money are losing ground while the rich are capturing a bigger share of the pie than ever.
Nowhere is that upward drift more obvious than in President Trump’s signature tax and budget legislation, the so-called “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
The law delivers trillions of dollars in tax cuts weighted toward the richest Americans, even as it cuts funding for public services and safety-net programs—many of which are staffed by AFSCME members.
According to a report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, the Trump administration’s series of project cancellations, funding cuts, mass firings of federal employees, and cuts to funding for crucial public services will shrink Illinois’ economy by $10 billion per year and result in the loss of 86,000 jobs.
The report also finds that these program cuts will cause hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents to lose access to health insurance coverage and food assistance, while shrinking state revenues by more than $1 billion per year.
Building the power to fight back
The clearest path to leveling the playing field between workers and the billionaire class is a stronger labor movement. Unions are one of the only forces in American life that can organize working people’s power to match the billionaires’ money.
That means investing in organizing, building union density and helping unions get the resources they need to take on the richest Americans in history—and win.