Latest gap
-13.9 percentage points Jun 2026
Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap
Down from -10.5 percentage points a year earlier.
Fourth-lowest since 2020.
Where the Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap stands now
The Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap was -13.9 percentage points in June 2026, up from the -15.3 percentage points low in December 2025.
How the Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap has moved since 2020
Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap: down since 2024
Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, top-quartile minus bottom-quartile spending growth, percentage points: -13.9 percentage points in June 2026, down from -10.5 percentage points a year earlier. Monthly, 2020–2026.
What the Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap measures
Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap by month, 2020 to 2026
| Month | Gap (pp) | Change from a year earlier (percentage points) |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 2026 | −13.9 | −3.4 |
| May 2026 | −9.3 | +0.9 |
| Apr 2026 | −11.3 | −0.2 |
| Mar 2026 | −9.8 | −0.2 |
| Feb 2026 | −10.4 | −1.7 |
| Jan 2026 | −12.8 | −0.5 |
| Dec 2025 | −15.3 | −1.2 |
| Nov 2025 | −9.3 | +0.7 |
| Oct 2025 | −9.3 | −0.8 |
| Sep 2025 | −9.9 | −2.1 |
| Aug 2025 | −9.9 | −0.8 |
| Jul 2025 | −11.2 | −1.7 |
| Jun 2025 | −10.5 | −0.7 |
| May 2025 | −10.2 | −1.5 |
| Apr 2025 | −11.1 | −0.5 |
| Mar 2025 | −9.6 | −0.1 |
| Feb 2025 | −8.7 | +0.6 |
| Jan 2025 | −12.3 | −1.5 |
| Dec 2024 | −14.1 | −0.2 |
| Nov 2024 | −10.0 | −1.9 |
| Oct 2024 | −8.5 | +1.7 |
| Sep 2024 | −7.8 | +2.8 |
| Aug 2024 | −9.1 | +1.1 |
| Jul 2024 | −9.5 | +2.0 |
| Jun 2024 | −9.8 | +0.2 |
| May 2024 | −8.7 | +0.3 |
| Apr 2024 | −10.6 | −0.7 |
| Mar 2024 | −9.5 | −1.1 |
| Feb 2024 | −9.3 | 0.0 |
| Jan 2024 | −10.8 | +2.9 |
| Dec 2023 | −13.9 | −0.3 |
| Nov 2023 | −8.1 | +1.4 |
| Oct 2023 | −10.2 | −0.4 |
| Sep 2023 | −10.6 | −0.3 |
| Aug 2023 | −10.2 | −1.2 |
| Jul 2023 | −11.5 | −0.8 |
| Jun 2023 | −10.0 | −0.1 |
| May 2023 | −9.0 | −0.6 |
| Apr 2023 | −9.9 | +0.2 |
| Mar 2023 | −8.4 | +0.6 |
| Feb 2023 | −9.3 | −0.6 |
| Jan 2023 | −13.7 | −2.3 |
| Dec 2022 | −13.6 | −0.2 |
| Nov 2022 | −9.5 | +0.3 |
| Oct 2022 | −9.8 | −0.9 |
| Sep 2022 | −10.3 | −0.3 |
| Aug 2022 | −9.0 | +0.2 |
| Jul 2022 | −10.7 | +0.5 |
| Jun 2022 | −9.9 | +0.3 |
| May 2022 | −8.4 | +0.8 |
| Apr 2022 | −10.1 | +3.3 |
| Mar 2022 | −9.0 | +4.0 |
| Feb 2022 | −8.7 | 0.0 |
| Jan 2022 | −11.4 | +3.2 |
| Dec 2021 | −13.4 | −2.5 |
| Nov 2021 | −9.8 | −3.7 |
| Oct 2021 | −8.9 | −2.4 |
| Sep 2021 | −10.0 | −2.4 |
| Aug 2021 | −9.2 | −2.5 |
| Jul 2021 | −11.2 | −3.9 |
| Jun 2021 | −10.2 | −0.8 |
| May 2021 | −9.2 | +3.0 |
| Apr 2021 | −13.4 | −1.0 |
| Mar 2021 | −13.0 | −10.0 |
| Feb 2021 | −8.7 | −10.8 |
| Jan 2021 | −14.6 | −14.6 |
| Dec 2020 | −10.9 | — |
| Nov 2020 | −6.1 | — |
| Oct 2020 | −6.5 | — |
| Sep 2020 | −7.6 | — |
| Aug 2020 | −6.7 | — |
| Jul 2020 | −7.3 | — |
| Jun 2020 | −9.4 | — |
| May 2020 | −12.2 | — |
| Apr 2020 | −12.4 | — |
| Mar 2020 | −3.0 | — |
| Feb 2020 | 2.1 | — |
| Jan 2020 | 0.0 | — |
Monthly · Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, data from Affinity Solutions; Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren, Michael Stepner and the Opportunity Insights Team, "The Economic Impacts of COVID-19: Evidence from a New Public Database Built Using Private Sector Data"
Counties with the highest debt burden scores
There's no county figure for this measure, so this list uses the debt burden part of our County Distress Index.
| Rank | County | Score (0–100) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bronx County, NY | 99.6 |
| 2 | Miami-Dade County, FL | 99.4 |
| 3 | Rockland County, NY | 99.4 |
| 4 | Clayton County, GA | 99.1 |
| 5 | Broward County, FL | 99 |
| 6 | Palm Beach County, FL | 98.8 |
| 7 | Santa Barbara County, CA | 98.4 |
| 8 | St. Lucie County, FL | 98.4 |
| 9 | Osceola County, FL | 98.3 |
| 10 | Orleans Parish, LA | 98 |
Questions about the Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap
What does the spending gap measure?
It subtracts one growth figure from another. Opportunity Insights reports how much card spending has grown since January 2020 for people living in the lowest-income and highest-income quarters of ZIP codes. The gap is the top quartile's growth minus the bottom quartile's: -13.9 percentage points in June 2026.
Does a negative gap mean low-income households are spending more?
Not in dollars. Each group is measured against its own spending in early 2020, so a negative gap means spending in low-income ZIP codes has grown more from its own starting point. Incomes are not observed for each cardholder; the groups are ZIP codes, and the figures cover card spending only, not adjusted for inflation.
Where does this data come from?
Opportunity Insights, a research group, publishes the quartile spending series in its Economic Tracker, built from Affinity Solutions card data. The national monthly file has updated about once a month since June 2025, with no fixed schedule, and each update revises earlier months. American Default Research calculates the gap.
Sources and method for the Top vs Bottom Income Quartile Spending Gap
- Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker, data from Affinity Solutions; Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren, Michael Stepner and the Opportunity Insights Team, "The Economic Impacts of COVID-19: Evidence from a New Public Database Built Using Private Sector Data" We use the monthly figures as published, from January 2020 through June 2026, with no adjustment of our own. Opportunity Insights doesn’t adjust this gap for the season, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Opportunity Insights’s report
We write with assistance from AI tools. Figures come from the data and sources named on this page.