From the firm the personal finance site HowMuch, an interesting visualization of income distribution in the United States. The data was drawn from 2018 Social Security Administration wage data.
The visualization draws upon 2018 wage data from the Social Security Administration. The circle graph represents 100% of the total wages earned in the U.S. Each slice of the circle represents the percentage of Americans whose net compensation fell within a certain interval, such as $0-$4,999 or $5,000-$9,999. The larger the slice of the circle, the higher the percentage of Americans within that net compensation range. In addition, each slice of the circle is color-coded. The shades of pink indicate lower wages, while the shades of blue and green indicate higher wages. At first glance, you can see that most of the circle is pink, corresponding with the high percentage of low-income Americans.
There are so many nuances and circumstances at the individual level that make surveys and analysis like this so difficult to interpret. In addition, it does not factor in ‘foreign’ spending or investment which is clearly a massive influence in US economics.
I’m a focus group of one however just using a basic ‘eye test’ of what you see on a day to day basis across different regions of the country compared to what is depicted in this chart, things do not seem to match up. Yet with that said, it is still a very interesting visual to further understand what is happening across the country from a wage perspective, especially considering the huge hit that the US economy is taking as a result of COVID-19.