Equitable Growth responds to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ 2025 Personal Income data release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 17, 2026
CONTACT: Madison Moore, mmoore@equitablegrowth.org
On June 16, 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released its 2025 National Nowcast of growth in Personal Income by quintiles. These data represent the most comprehensive metric assembled by a federal statistical agency that monitors income inequality in the United States.
According to the data, the U.S. economy was weaker for low-income households in 2025. Specifically, the first quintile of households, or the lowest 20 percent, saw an inflation-adjusted increase in income of just 1.5 percent, compared with 2.1 percent for the overall income distribution. Additionally, the middle three quintiles outperformed the 2.1 percent average, growing at a combined rate of 2.7 percent. Finally, the top quintile grew by 2 percent.
“In 2025, the bottom 20 percent of households fell behind in income growth,” said Washington Center for Equitable Growth Visiting Fellow Austin Clemens. “That is particularly alarming due to the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and cuts to programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in 2025. In addition, rising inflation caused by the Iran war will put further stress on households at all income levels but especially the bottom 50 percent.”
The Bureau of Economic Analysis also has released more comprehensive estimates of how inequality changed in 2024, which Equitable Growth will analyze in a forthcoming piece. Equitable Growth has been tracking trends in income and wealth inequality through its U.S. Inequality Tracker and will incorporate the 2024 data soon.
“Economic inequality remains at historically high levels. Though the Nowcast data show some strength in the middle of the income distribution, households in the top 10 percent currently earn a remarkably high percentage of all income in the U.S. economy, and this release suggests little change to the trend of the past few decades,” said Clemens.
Yesterday’s data release was delayed by the government shutdown in late 2025 and therefore was not released concurrent to the agency’s annual Gross Domestic Product estimate. For years, Equitable Growth has invested in its GDP 2.0 project, which has pushed the Bureau of Economic Analysis to make it easier to see how the U.S. economy is performing for those at the bottom, middle, and top of the income distribution, including the National Nowcast. Equitable Growth has been an advocate for publishing inequality metrics on a more timely basis and is pleased to see that the agency is continuing to publish its Nowcast estimates.
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The Washington Center for Equitable Growth is a nonprofit research and grantmaking organization dedicated to advancing evidence-backed ideas and policies that promote strong, stable, and broad-based economic growth. For more information, see www.equitablegrowth.org and follow us on X @equitablegrowth and Bluesky @equitablegrowth.bsky.social.
