LIFE EXPERIENCES AND INCOME INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES

Over the past five decades, income inequality has sharply increased between the highest income earners and middle- and lower-income earners in the U.S. This poll examines the implications of this growing inequality for the lives of U.S. adults across different income levels. This report, Life Experiences and Income Inequality in the United States, is based on a survey conducted for NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It explores how adults’ personal experiences, values, and views on income inequality, opportunity, and health in the U.S., differ among adults by household income. Surveyed adults are split into four income categories: those in the top 1% highest income households in the U.S. (earning at least $500,000/year), those in higher-income households (earning $100,000-$499,999/year), those in middle-income households (earning $35,000-$99,999/year), and those in lower-income households (earning less than $35,000/year). Due to the heterogeneity of incomes in the higher-income category, analyses in this report focus on differences between the top 1% highest income adults compared to middle- and lower-income adults, though results are included for all four income groups. It was conducted July 17 – August 18, 2019, among a nationally representative, probability-based telephone (cell and landline) sample of 1,885 adults ages 18 or older living in the United States.

The full report can be downloaded below.