The wealthy in the US have enjoyed unprecedented gains, while workers face stagnant wages and a high cost of living. And the difference is especially stark in one of the states with the highest concentration of billionaires in the country.
New York is home to 154 billionaires who boast a collective fortune of $975.7 billion, according to a new report from Oxfam America. Thanks to the state’s position as a financial and investment hub, it is home to many ultra-rich people, including Mike Bloomberg ($109 billion) and Stephen Schwarzman ($41.9 billion).
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His impressive assets only continue to grow; Over the past year, the wealth of the state’s billionaires has increased by 11.6%, three times more than the hourly wages of New York’s private sector workers.
The disparity is compounded by the fact that average real hourly earnings in the state’s private sector have remained largely stagnant and were even slightly lower in 2025 than before the pandemic, the Oxfam report highlighted.
And, at the top of New York’s elite billionaire club, the distance from the rest of the population is even more pronounced. The 10 richest New Yorkers earned $42.4 billion last year, according to the report.
Each of these ultra-wealthy billionaires added around $4.2 billion, making approximately $2 million per hour. Compared to the state’s average private sector hourly wage of $39.62, it would take a typical worker 82,863 years to earn what a top 10 earner earned on average last year.
However, the growing economic divide in New York should not be viewed as an anomaly; Oxfam notes that this phenomenon is spreading throughout the United States.
“What we see in New York is consistent with national trends,” Rebecca Riddell, senior policy lead for economic justice at Oxfam America, told Fortune.
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“In many ways, we have an economy structured against workers and in favor of the richest. Past political decisions on issues such as taxation, corporate power and labor rights have resulted in an economy in which benefits rise to the top.”
Why billionaires’ wealth is skyrocketing in the US
Riddell points out some key factors behind the billionaire wealth boom.
The richest 0.1% in the US own about a quarter of all stocks in the country, according to data from the Federal Reserve, allowing them to expand their fortunes by billions.
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Last year, an Oxfam report revealed that the 10 richest billionaires in the US — mostly founders of technology companies, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who made large gains from their investments — added US$698 billion to their wealth between November 2024 and the same month of 2025.
Meanwhile, the poorest 50% of the US owned just 1.1% of the stock market.
Furthermore, billionaires have benefited from the Trump administration’s “inequality-creating” policies, says Riddell.
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Last July, President Trump signed into law his One Big Beautiful Bill, which provides for a reduction in the tax burden on the richest 0.1% in the country. By 2027, the law is expected to reduce taxes on the ultra-rich by $311,000, while the poorest Americans — with incomes of less than $15,000 a year — will have to pay even more in taxes.
Riddell explains that, through this measure, support for New York workers will be reduced, while people with millionaire incomes will receive a “benefit” of around US$52,000 this year.
To bring about meaningful change for working New Yorkers, Riddell recommends that state policymakers address inequality by increasing taxes on the wealthiest and generating revenue for essential public services.
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New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has proposed a 2% increase in the municipal income tax rate for families earning more than $1 million a year.
Americans can barely make ends meet — and criticize inequality
The United States is home to more billionaires than any other country in the world, but the average worker is not sharing in the country’s enormous economic success.
Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi told Fortune last year that low-income families are “hanging on by a thread financially.”
The cost of living is rising, hiring has slowed to a worrying rate, and layoffs are on the rise.
The situation has become so serious that it is fueling a loneliness crisis, with Americans failing to attend social events and postponing their goals to make ends meet.
“The feeling is of greater fragility because no one is being hired. This can be sustained for a while, but not forever. If layoffs really increase, this lower-middle income group will be hit hard — and they have no alternatives,” said Zandi in 2025.
“They have debt: car loans, student loans and, if they’re lucky, a mortgage. But they’re going to struggle, and their situation could quickly put them in a recession.”
US citizens are not oblivious to the growing divide between rich and poor — they are critical of extreme wealth.
A recent Pew Research survey showed that nearly one in five Americans considers being a billionaire to be “morally wrong,” with Gen Z leading the criticism.
Another 52% of Americans agree that inequality is a very big problem, according to a 2026 YouGov report, and 59% say the government should intervene to reduce it.
Additionally, 62% of citizens said that taxation on billionaires is very low (46%) or low (16%).
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