(Bloomberg) -- A key measure of US income inequality rose to a new record in 2021, the first year of President Joe Biden’s term.
The so-called Gini Index rose by 1.2% last year to 0.494, according to data released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau. The index measures how income is distributed, with a value of 0 representing perfect equality while 1 indicates absolute inequality.
The same report showed the US poverty rate climbed for a second straight year in 2021 and household income slipped slightly. Last year, 37.9 million people were in poverty, about 3.9 million more than in 2019.
Almost 20% of households earned at least $150,000 last year, according to the report. Broken down by race, 22.5% of Non-Hispanic White households earned $150,000 or more, compared with 10.3% of Black households.
One in eight Hispanic households of any race earned at least $150,000 and one-third of non-Hispanic Asian households earned at least $150,000 in 2021.
Last year, the share of income flowing to the bottom four quintiles -- or the lower 80% of households -- shrank, while more income reached those among the top 20%. In particular, 23.5% of total income went to the top 5% compared with 23% in 2020. Seen differently, a household in the top 10% makes about 11 times more than a household in the bottom 10%.
There was a clear divergence between the wealthy and the poor: Median incomes at the 90th percentile rose to $211,956 in 2021, while incomes for those among the bottom 10th fell to $15,660.
When measured using post-tax income data, inequality was 12.9% lower compared with pretax income.
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