“The Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality (CPI) seeks answers to two questions: 1. Why is the United States so unequal and poverty-stricken? 2. What can or should be done about it? The facts are simple…

• Income inequality is extreme and increasing: The top 1% of Americans control nearly a quarter of all the country’s income, the highest share controlled by the top 1% since 1928.
• The U.S. is exceptionally unequal: The U.S. ranks #3 among all the advanced economies in the amount of income inequality.
• The poverty rate is high: The U.S. poverty rate, according to the new Supplemental Poverty Measure, is estimated at 15.7 percent.
• The poverty rate is higher than in peer countries: Only one advanced economy, Mexico, has a higher relative poverty rate.
• 20 Facts About U.S. Inequality that Everyone Should Know – Click an image to learn more about a fact