The gap between the top and everyone else is getting wider
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The gap between the richest and the rest of the people in South Dakota and the Northern Plains is still large, according to a new federal study.
Based on the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve Board, the report indicates that the top 1% of U.S. households own 35% of all wealth, even though more middle-class families saw their home values go up in recent years.
The study, written by Moritz Kuhn of the University of Mannheim and José-Vctor Ros-Rull of the University of Pennsylvania and published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in May 2025, found that while the share of wealth held by the wealthiest 1 percent dropped from 39 percent in 2016 to 35 percent in 2022, “wealth remains highly concentrated”. The gap between the top and everyone else is still very wide.
To be in the top 1 percent of wealth in America, a family needs more than $13.6 million, according to the report. The typical (median) household in the U.S. has about $193,000 in net worth, which is the value of everything they own minus what they owe.
Why This Matters to You
For families in South Dakota and the Northern Plains, these gaps in wealth and income can mean less security and fewer chances to build a better life, according to the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve Board.
“Wealth remains highly concentrated, and regular households face real challenges in building assets,” researchers Moritz Kuhn and José-Víctor Ríos-Rull wrote in their May 2025 National Bureau of Economic Research report.
This affects everyday decisions, from saving for a rainy day to buying a home or staying on the family farm.
What This Means for South Dakota and the Plains
Many people own their homes in South Dakota and the Northern Plains, so rising home prices have helped some families. But most people still have much less wealth than the wealthiest families, and many rural and Native American communities face higher poverty rates, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
Kuhn and Ríos-Rull wrote that “half of U.S. households earn less than $70,000 per year, while the top 10 percent earn more than $250,000 and the top 1 percent more than $1.2 million.” In the Plains, farm incomes can change a lot from year to year, and many small towns struggle with low wages and fewer job opportunities.
Young People and Single Parents Face More Challenges
The report found that younger people are having a harder time building wealth than earlier generations at the same age, even if they make similar or higher incomes. Student loans and high prices for homes and farmland are part of the reason. “Younger generations accumulate less wealth than their predecessors at comparable ages, despite similar or higher income levels,” Kuhn and Ríos-Rull wrote.
Single-parent families, especially those led by women, have less than half the wealth of married couples with children. These families rely more on government help to have less chance of owning a home, making it harder to save for emergencies or the future.
Farming and Jobs Make a Difference
The study found that people working in agriculture often have high wealth because of the value of their land and equipment, but their yearly incomes can be low and change a lot. “Households in agriculture are very wealthy, typically,” the authors wrote, but most of that wealth is tied up in things they can’t easily spend.
Business owners in the Plains also tend to have more wealth than people who work for wages, but their incomes can fluctuate more. People who work in public service or service jobs, like teachers or store workers, usually have lower incomes and less wealth.
Most People Save for Emergencies
Most families in the Plains save money mainly for emergencies, not for retirement or investing, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances. More than 40 percent of low- and middle-income families said saving for emergencies was their top reason, which shows how many people worry about things like job loss, medical bills, or bad weather hurting crops.
Looking Ahead
The report found that as the region changes—from family farms to larger agribusiness and growing cities—these trends in inequality will shape the future for everyone, not just the wealthy. Policymakers and communities will need to address these gaps to help more families thrive.
This story is based on the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances from the Federal Reserve Board and the May 2025 working paper “Income and Wealth Inequality in the United States: An Update Including the 2022 Wave” by Moritz Kuhn and José-Víctor Ríos-Rull, National Bureau of Economic Research
