Average income falls faster for the highest income group than for the bottom 50%
Average incomes, adjusted for inflation, declined across the whole of the income distribution from 2021 to 2022. This was mainly due to the winding down of COVID-19 pandemic-related government benefit programs in addition to an inflation rate of 6.8%—the highest increase in 40 years on an annual average basis.
Average income fell by 5.1% to $586,900 among the top 1% of tax filers in 2022, and it fell at a faster pace among the top 0.1% (-6.9% to $2,073,000) and the top 0.01% (-9.9% to $7,436,400). Tax filers in the lower portions of the income distribution were not spared, with average income of the bottom 50% of filers decreasing by 7.6% to $20,800.
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