Wealth

On the fundamental question of why some people are rich and others are poor, more Americans point to the advantages they possess – or the obstacles they face – rather than their work ethic. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults (65%) say the main reason some people are rich is because they have had more advantages […]

Over the past 50 years, the highest-earning 20% of U.S. households have steadily brought in a larger share of the country’s total income.

Looking for a new religious congregation is common in the U.S. But how likely Americans are to look for a new church varies by their education and income levels.

Around six-in-ten U.S. adults say the nation’s economic system unfairly favors powerful interests, though partisans are divided. Partisan differences extend to beliefs about why people are rich or poor.

Our new calculator allows you to see which group you fit in, first compared with all American adults, and then compared with other adults similar to you in education, age, race or ethnicity, and marital status.

Generation Xers were hit particularly hard in the recession. Yet Gen Xers are the only generation of households to recover the wealth they lost in the downturn.

In the U.S., the racial and ethnic wealth gap has evolved differently for families at different income levels since the Great Recession.

From 1991 to 2010, the middle class expands in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, but, as in the United States, shrinks in Germany, Italy and Spain

As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office, the public has starkly different expectations about which groups in society will gain influence – and those that will lose influence – under his administration.

Pew Research Center President Michael Dimock examines the changes – some profound, some subtle – that the U.S. experienced during Barack Obama’s presidency.