Measuring the Income Gap from 1975 to 2023

Extending Previous Work

Carter C. Price

Published Feb 17, 2025

The author extends prior work to estimate the gap between what workers earned in 2023 and what they would have earned with a more even growth rate from 1975 to 2023. The bottom 90 percent of workers would have earned $3.9 trillion more with the more even growth rates that would amount to the cumulative amount of $79 trillion. These numbers differ from the prior estimates because of inflation, growth in inequality, and a longer time frame.

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Price, Carter C., Measuring the Income Gap from 1975 to 2023: Extending Previous Work. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WRA516-2.html.
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