U.S. Households Split Into 2 Paths as S&P 500 Jumps 240% Since 2017
Updated
Updated · Macrobond · Sep 4
U.S. Households Split Into 2 Paths as S&P 500 Jumps 240% Since 2017
2 articles · Updated · Macrobond · Sep 4
Summary
Lower-income and asset-owning households are moving further apart, with market gains and overall growth no longer translating into broadly shared financial improvement.
Since the mid-1970s, real pay has decoupled from productivity, while housing, medical care, tuition and insurance have risen 130% to 235% since 2000, squeezing wage earners most.
The split shows up in confidence data: households earning under $35,000 remain 30% to 40% below 2020 sentiment levels, while those above $100,000 are close to recovering.
Wealth ownership helps explain the gap — the top 1% still hold about 30% of net worth, the bottom 50% just 2% to 3%, and equity-heavy portfolios leave rallies concentrated at the top.
The pattern looks structural rather than cyclical: Baby Boomers still control 51.6% of household wealth, and SNAP participation remains elevated at 21.8% of the labor force.