This version of the article first appeared on CNBC’s Inside Wealth Newsletter. This is Robert Frank, our weekly guide to Net-Worth Investor and Consumer. Sign up to receive future editions directly in your inbox.
New Federal Reserve data shows that stock market rally continued to benefit the biggest investors, with the top 10% of Americans adding $5 trillion to their wealth in the second quarter.
According to the Fed, the gross wealth of the top 10% (or those with net worth over $2 million) reached a record $113 trillion in the second quarter. This increase follows three years of continuous growth, with the top 10% adding more than $40 trillion to their wealth since 2020.
According to Fed data, all wealth groups have profited over the past year, with the net worth of the lower half of Americans increasing by 6% over the past 12 months. But growth is the fastest for top-level people. In the top 1%, wealth has increased by $4 trillion over the past year, and has grown by 7%. Their wealth reached a record $52 trillion in the second quarter.
The top 0.1% have seen a 10% increase in wealth over the past year. Since the pandemic, people with a top 0.1%, or net worth at least $46 million, have almost doubled their total wealth to $23 trillion.
Despite recent rapid growth at the top, the total wealth stock held by Upper Echelon has been fairly stable over decades. The top 1% accounted for 29% of total household wealth in the second quarter, compared to 28% in 2000. The top 10% accounted for 67% of quarterly total wealth, while the bottom 90% held 33%.
The biggest driver of wealth at the top of this year is the stock market. The value of corporate stocks and mutual fund stocks held by the top 10% has increased from $39 trillion to more than $44 trillion over the past year. The top 10% of Americans hold more than 87% of corporate and mutual fund stakes.
The ultra-wealthy population is also growing rapidly. According to a new Altrata report, the number of Americans in the ultra-high western, or people over $30 million rose by 6.5% in the first half of 2025, after a surge of 21% last year. Currently, there are 208,090 ultra-high net individuals in the United States, accounting for 41% of the global total.
The surge in wealth at the top creates an increasingly divergent consumer economy, with the wealthy people accounting for an increase in overall share of spending. According to Mark Zandy of Moody’s Analysis, the top 10% of consumer spending in the second quarter accounted for 49.2% of consumer spending, marking the highest level since the data was compiled in 1989.
The so-called “K-shaped economy” has been working so far, at least according to a wide range of economic measures such as GDP and consumption. However, the increased dependence of consumers on small slivers at the top is risky.
Zandi said a deep and long-term decline in the stock market has driven almost all of its wealth at the top, potentially causing wider ripples to the economy.
“The economy is a huge part of the spending of very wealthy, wealthy people who are cheered on by the surge in value of their stock portfolios,” he said. “If the rich (over) stock markets stumble for some reason and the wealthy see red on the stock tickers more than the green, they will soon become cautious about spending, pose a serious threat to an already vulnerable economy.”
