Income inequality in the United States is sky-high, but it's not just income inequality. Wealth inequality—the difference between the assets (after debts are excluded) that people have—is
also at record levels:
The Pew Research Center categorizes middle-income families as having between two-thirds and twice the median income, adjusted for household size, while upper-income families have more than twice the median income.
The median wealth among upper-income families increased from $595,300 in 2010 to $639,400 in 2013 (all dollar amounts in 2013 dollars). The typical wealth of middle-income families was basically unchanged in 2013 — it remained at about $96,500 over the same period.
As a result, the estimated wealth gap between upper-income and middle-income families has increased during the recovery. In 2010, the median wealth of upper-income families was 6.2 times the median wealth of middle-income families. By 2013, that wealth ratio grew to 6.6.
Wealth is what ends up getting passed down to your kids, making it more likely that they will be able to accumulate wealth themselves. This record inequality, in other words, matters.