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FastFact: Top 20% Earn More than Half Total U.S. Income
October 13,
2014 by in Economic News, Industry 
The top 20 percent of U.S. households generate more than half of the total income earned in the country in 2012, the most recent figures available.
The top earning households accounted for 51.1 percent of income earned in 2012. Broken down further, the top 5 percent earned enough to accounted for 22.3 percent of the overall total U.S. income.
The next 20 percent (the fourth fifth) of the population contributed 23 percent to the total income for the year. The 60 percent of the population below that tier earned a 25.9 percent of the total income in the U.S. for the year in 2012.
For the 10-year period between 2002 and 2012, the top fifth of households experienced a slight increase in its slice of the income pie by growing its share from 49.7 percent to 51 percent. Meanwhile, income for the each of the other segments decreased in the 10-year span.
The complete FastFact is available online.