Shares of all income held by the top 1%, U.S. and by region, 1917–2015

United States Northeast Midwest South West
1917 18% 23% 14% 14% 13%
1918 16% 20% 13% 14% 11%
1919 16% 20% 13% 15% 12%
1920 15% 16% 13% 14% 11%
1921 16% 17% 14% 14% 11%
1922 17% 19% 15% 15% 13%
1923 16% 17% 14% 14% 12%
1924 17% 19% 15% 15% 13%
1925 20% 23% 17% 19% 14%
1926 20% 22% 17% 18% 16%
1927 21% 24% 18% 18% 16%
1928 24% 29% 20% 18% 18%
1929 22% 27% 18% 17% 16%
1930 17% 19% 15% 15% 13%
1931 15% 16% 14% 15% 13%
1932 16% 16% 14% 15% 12%
1933 16% 18% 14% 15% 13%
1934 16% 17% 15% 16% 14%
1935 17% 18% 14% 16% 14%
1936 19% 20% 18% 19% 16%
1937 17% 18% 15% 17% 15%
1938 16% 15% 14% 16% 13%
1939 16% 16% 15% 16% 13%
1940 16% 16% 15% 17% 13%
1941 16% 16% 15% 16% 13%
1942 13% 14% 13% 13% 11%
1943 12% 13% 12% 12% 11%
1944 11% 14% 12% 12% 11%
1945 13% 15% 13% 12% 11%
1946 13% 14% 12% 13% 11%
1947 12% 12% 11% 12% 10%
1948 12% 13% 11% 13% 12%
1949 12% 12% 11% 12% 11%
1950 13% 14% 12% 13% 12%
1951 12% 13% 11% 12% 11%
1952 11% 12% 10% 11% 10%
1953 10% 11% 10% 10% 9%
1954 11% 12% 10% 11% 10%
1955 11% 12% 10% 11% 10%
1956 11% 12% 10% 11% 9%
1957 10% 11% 10% 10% 9%
1958 10% 11% 10% 10% 9%
1959 11% 12% 10% 11% 10%
1960 10% 11% 10% 10% 9%
1961 11% 12% 10% 10% 10%
1962 10% 11% 9% 10% 9%
1963 10% 11% 9% 10% 9%
1964 10% 11% 10% 11% 9%
1965 11% 12% 10% 11% 10%
1966 10% 11% 10% 10% 9%
1967 11% 12% 10% 11% 10%
1968 11% 13% 10% 11% 10%
1969 10% 12% 10% 10% 9%
1970 9% 10% 9% 9% 8%
1971 9% 10% 9% 10% 8%
1972 10% 10% 9% 10% 9%
1973 9% 10% 8% 10% 9%
1974 9% 9% 8% 9% 8%
1975 9% 9% 9% 9% 8%
1976 9% 9% 9% 9% 8%
1977 9% 9% 9% 9% 9%
1978 9% 9% 9% 9% 9%
1979 10% 10% 9% 10% 10%
1980 10% 11% 9% 10% 9%
1981 10% 11% 9% 10% 9%
1982 11% 6% 6% 7% 5%
1983 12% 6% 5% 7% 5%
1984 12% 11% 8% 9% 8%
1985 13% 11% 9% 9% 8%
1986 16% 15% 11% 13% 12%
1987 13% 13% 10% 11% 10%
1988 15% 15% 11% 12% 12%
1989 14% 14% 11% 12% 12%
1990 14% 16% 13% 14% 15%
1991 13% 15% 12% 13% 14%
1992 15% 17% 14% 14% 14%
1993 14% 16% 13% 14% 14%
1994 14% 16% 13% 14% 14%
1995 15% 17% 14% 15% 15%
1996 17% 19% 17% 16% 16%
1997 18% 20% 15% 17% 18%
1998 19% 21% 16% 18% 19%
1999 20% 23% 16% 18% 22%
2000 22% 24% 16% 18% 24%
2001 18% 22% 14% 16% 18%
2002 17% 19% 14% 16% 17%
2003 18% 18% 13% 15% 16%
2004 20% 22% 16% 18% 20%
2005 22% 24% 17% 21% 22%
2006 23% 24% 18% 21% 21%
2007 24% 26% 18% 20% 21%
2008 21% 23% 17% 19% 18%
2009 18% 21% 15% 17% 17%
2010 20% 24% 17% 18% 20%
2011 20% 24% 17% 19% 19%
2012 23% 25% 19% 22% 23%
2013 20% 24% 17% 19% 20%
2014 21% 26% 18% 21% 22%
2015 22% 25% 18% 20% 22%

Notes: Data are for tax units. Income includes capital gains income. Shaded areas denote recessions.

Source: Authors’ analysis of state-level tax data from Sommeiller 2006 extended to 2015 using state-level data from the Internal Revenue Service SOI Tax Stats (various years) and Piketty and Saez 2016

View the underlying data on epi.org.