Figure A

The share of all income held by the top 1%, United States and by region, 1917–2011

Year United States (by Piketty and Saez) Northeast Midwest South West
1917 17.7 22.9 13.1 15.7 13.2
1918 16.0 20.2 11.7 15.1 11.7
1919 16.4 21.2 12.8 14.3 12.2
1920 14.8 17.8 12.4 13.5 10.9
1921 15.6 17.9 13.2 14.0 12.0
1922 17.1 19.8 14.1 15.0 12.8
1923 15.6 18.0 12.9 14.4 12.0
1924 17.4 20.0 14.7 15.3 12.9
1925 20.2 22.9 17.3 18.0 15.2
1926 19.9 21.6 17.4 17.7 16.2
1927 21.0 23.0 18.0 18.5 16.4
1928 23.9 26.3 20.6 20.4 18.8
1929 22.4 27.4 18.1 17.4 16.1
1930 17.2 18.5 15.2 15.5 13.5
1931 15.5 15.8 13.9 14.9 12.6
1932 15.6 16.1 13.5 15.3 12.4
1933 16.5 17.6 14.3 15.5 12.9
1934 16.4 17.0 14.7 16.0 13.8
1935 16.7 17.9 14.4 16.2 14.2
1936 19.3 20.2 17.6 18.6 15.8
1937 17.1 17.8 15.3 17.2 14.8
1938 15.8 15.2 14.2 16.3 13.1
1939 16.2 16.0 14.7 16.4 13.0
1940 16.5 16.1 15.3 16.8 13.1
1941 15.8 15.5 14.5 16.0 12.9
1942 13.4 13.7 12.6 12.9 11.4
1943 12.3 12.8 11.4 11.7 10.6
1944 11.3 11.4 12.6 12.3 10.5
1945 12.5 14.7 12.4 12.2 11.4
1946 13.3 14.1 12.2 13.3 11.3
1947 12.0 12.4 10.9 11.8 10.3
1948 12.2 13.0 11.0 12.9 11.9
1949 11.7 12.4 11.0 12.1 10.9
1950 12.8 13.8 11.7 13.4 12.2
1951 11.8 12.7 10.8 12.0 11.2
1952 10.8 11.6 10.0 11.2 10.1
1953 9.9 10.6 9.4 10.2 8.9
1954 10.8 11.7 9.8 11.3 9.9
1955 11.1 12.4 9.8 11.3 10.2
1956 10.7 11.7 9.9 11.0 9.5
1957 10.2 10.9 9.5 10.6 9.1
1958 10.2 11.3 9.4 10.3 9.3
1959 10.6 11.9 9.5 10.9 9.7
1960 10.0 10.8 9.4 10.3 9.1
1961 10.6 11.8 9.9 10.6 9.7
1962 9.9 10.7 9.2 10.3 8.9
1963 9.9 10.7 9.2 10.3 8.9
1964 10.5 11.4 9.9 11.0 9.6
1965 10.9 11.8 10.1 11.2 9.7
1966 10.2 11.3 9.5 10.6 9.1
1967 10.7 12.1 10.0 10.8 9.7
1968 11.2 12.7 10.1 11.1 10.0
1969 10.4 11.5 9.6 10.6 9.4
1970 9.0 9.7 8.6 9.5 8.2
1971 9.4 10.1 8.7 10.1 8.6
1972 9.6 10.2 8.9 10.3 8.8
1973 9.2 9.5 8.3 10.0 8.6
1974 9.1 8.8 8.0 9.0 8.3
1975 8.9 9.2 8.4 9.5 8.3
1976 8.9 9.2 8.5 9.4 8.3
1977 9.0 9.3 8.5 9.5 8.6
1978 9.0 9.4 8.4 9.3 8.6
1979 10.0 10.3 9.1 10.4 9.6
1980 10.0 10.6 9.1 10.4 9.2
1981 10.0 10.7 8.9 10.3 9.2
1982 10.8 10.7 9.7 10.7 9.5
1983 11.6
1984 12.0
1985 12.7
1986 15.9 15.1 11.2 13.2 12.1
1987 12.7 12.7 9.7 10.8 10.4
1988 15.5 14.7 11.2 12.5 12.4
1989 14.5 13.6 10.7 12.1 12.3
1990 14.3 15.6 12.7 13.8 15.0
1991 13.4 14.7 12.4 13.0 13.5
1992 14.7 16.7 13.5 14.3 14.4
1993 14.2 16.3 13.3 13.9 13.9
1994 14.2 15.9 13.4 14.0 13.9
1995 15.2 17.1 13.9 14.6 14.9
1996 16.7 18.8 17.0 15.7 16.4
1997 18.0 20.4 15.5 17.0 17.8
1998 19.1 21.5 16.3 17.8 18.7
1999 20.0 22.8 16.1 17.7 21.6
2000 21.5 24.6 16.1 18.1 24.1
2001 18.2 22.7 14.5 16.2 18.2
2002 16.9 19.6 14.4 15.4 16.5
2003 17.5 18.4 13.2 14.6 15.7
2004 19.8 22.2 15.7 18.0 19.6
2005 21.9 23.7 16.7 20.4 21.7
2006 22.8 24.5 17.4 21.0 21.7
2007 23.5 26.1 17.8 20.1 21.5
2008 20.9 22.7 16.4 18.9 18.3
2009 18.1 21.3 15.3 17.0 17.4
2010 19.9 23.9 16.8 18.3 19.7
2011 19.6 23.6 16.6 18.5 19.5
2012 22.5
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Note: Data are for tax units. Tax data from 1983 to 1985 were unavailable, hence the gap in regional figures. Income includes capital gains income.

Source: Authors' analysis of state-level tax data from Sommeiller (2006) extended to 2011 using state-level data from the Internal Revenue Service SOI Tax Stats (various years), and Piketty and Saez (2012)

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