The Income Divide
How spending, inflation and unemployment diverge across the income distribution — the public evidence on the “K-shaped” economy. Real retail and food spending by income tier, the high-income sub-brackets, inflation experienced by income group, and the college unemployment gap. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators.
Latest data …
Spending Relative to Middle-Income Households
Ratio of real retail spending index to the middle-income index, 3-month average — left: lower income (<$40k); right: higher income ($125k+)
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators (Numerator panel). Ratios computed by Economics Guru from the published index levels. This is the same construction used on the widely circulated bank card-spending exhibits, but a different underlying panel — it is not a reproduction of them, and the two do not currently agree.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators — real retail spending, excluding autos.
Real Retail Spending — Year-over-Year
% change vs. the same month a year earlier, computed from the published index levels
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators. Year-over-year calculated by Economics Guru from the index, not taken from the workbook's own year-over-year columns.
Inside the Top — Spending by High-Income Bracket
Cumulative growth index, January 2023 = 100 — the only base on which the sub-brackets are published, so these series begin in 2023
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators — real retail spending by household income bracket.
Staples — Real Food & Beverage Spending by Income Tier
Cumulative growth index, January 2020 = 100 — the necessities counterweight to the retail series
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators — real food and beverage spending.
Inflation Actually Experienced, by Income Group
Year-over-year %, reconstructed as the headline rate plus each group's published inflation gap
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators — headline inflation and inflation gaps by income group. Group rates are the sum of the two, computed by Economics Guru.
About this data. The Economic Heterogeneity Indicators are built from a
200,000-household consumer panel maintained by Numerator and are published by the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York three times a year — in February, May and September — so this page
updates on that schedule rather than nightly. The EHIs are not official estimates of the
Federal Reserve Bank of New York, its President, the Federal Reserve System, or the FOMC.
Cite as: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Economic Heterogeneity Indicators,
newyorkfed.org.