If you feel like the economy isn’t working for you, that’s because it probably isn’t. According to the latest analysis from Moody’s, the bottom 80% of earners have merely spent in line with inflation since the pandemic—it’s the top 20% which are driving the growth.
Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi wrote the rating’s agency had updated its spending by income group data for Q2 2025, based on the Federal Reserve’s survey of consumer finance and financial accounts update.
Zandi’s analysis found the gap between very high earners, and low and middle-income earners, is increasingly diverging—especially since the last quarter of 2022.
“Looking at the data, it’s not a mystery why most Americans feel like the economy isn’t working for them,” Zandi wrote. “For those in the bottom 80% of the income distribution, those making less than approximately $175,000 a year, their spending has simply kept pace with inflation since the pandemic.”
“The 20% of households that make more have done much better, and those in the top 3.3% of the distribution have done much, much, much better.”
