Who Owns US Stock? Foreigners and Rich Americans. (2024)

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Our new analysis shows that foreign investors owned about 40 percent of US corporate equity in 2019, up substantially over the last few decades. Retirement accounts of US households owned about 30 percent in 2019, and the taxable accounts of US investors owned about 25 percent, which is most of the rest.

Who Owns US Stock? Foreigners and Rich Americans. (1)

Our new working paper reaffirms the shift in US equity ownership to tax-exempt accounts, from taxable accounts, which Lydia Austin and I first described in a 2016 article, and particularly the shift to foreign investors, which I highlighted in a 2017 article.

Our new analysis also examines more closely the ownership of stock by US households (combining equities held in both retirement and taxable accounts, in blue and grey above) with data published last month based on the Federal Reserve’s 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances.

Who Owns US Stock? Foreigners and Rich Americans. (2)

The Fed found that the average household in the richest tenth of US households, by net worth, owned vastly more stock than those in the bottom half. That is, those households that owned stock in the wealthiest 10 percent of households, owned an average $1.7 million of stock while those in the bottom 50 percent owned an average of only about $11,000. Virtually all (94 percent) of the wealthiest 10 percent of households owned stocks, while only about a third (31 percent) of the bottom 50 percent owned stock, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through mutual funds).

We plan to present this new analysis on October 27 for the Tax Policy and Public Finance Colloquium and Seminar at NYU. (Those interested in attending can e-mail Professor Shaviro to request the Zoom link.) We welcome suggestions and comments.

Posts and comments are solely the opinion of the author and not that of the Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute, or Brookings Institution.

Lee Jin-man/AP Photo

Who Owns US Stock? Foreigners and Rich Americans. (2024)

FAQs

How much of the US stock market is owned by foreigners? ›

Foreigners and Rich Americans. Our new analysis shows that foreign investors owned about 40 percent of US corporate equity in 2019, up substantially over the last few decades.

How much of the US economy is foreign-owned? ›

For the year as a whole, a total of 2,075 greenfield investment announcements were made, the largest number globally. The U.S. FDI stock reached USD 10.46 trillion in 2022, around 41.1% of the country's GDP.

Who owns the wealth in the stock market? ›

Based on this estimate, the richest 10 percent of U.S. households own roughly $42.7 trillion in stock market wealth, with the richest 1 percent owning $25 trillion. The bottom half of U.S. households own less than half a trillion dollars in stock market wealth.

Do the rich control the stock market? ›

About 93% of U.S. households' stock market wealth is held by the top 10%.

Do foreigners own most of the assets in the United States? ›

Among them 1) Foreign investment i s still tiny in terms of the entire U.S. economy Foreigners own 5 percent of all U.S. assets and 6.2 percent of stock. While this is of economic benefit to the U.S it is still not so much that foreigners can call the shots in America.

Who owns most of the U.S. stock market? ›

The richest Americans own the vast majority of the US stock market, according to Fed data. The top 10% of Americans held 93% of all stocks, the highest level ever recorded. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% of Americans held just 1% of all stocks in the third quarter of 2023.

Who is the largest foreign investor in the United States economy? ›

A few countries provided the majority of the $5 trillion in cumulative direct investment in the United States by the end of 2021. Japan was the single largest overseas investor, constituting nearly 15 percent of total cumulative foreign direct investment holdings.

Who is the biggest investor in the USA? ›

In 2022, no country had a higher foreign direct investment (FDI) position in the United States than Japan, followed by the United Kingdom and Canada. At that time, Japan had over 711 billion U.S. dollars invested in the United States.

How much land does Japan own in the United States? ›

Foreign Ownership of U.S. Agricultural Land
Country of Foreign InvestorTotal AcresTotal Land Value (US$)
France1,315,7482,974,709,000
Japan636,2582,959,088,000
Sweden688,8012,424,373,000
China383,9352,103,781,000
6 more rows
Mar 16, 2023

Who owns 90% of the stock market? ›

The top 10% own 88.6% of stocks ($28 trillion). Americans in the 50th to 90th percentile of wealth own 10.8% of stocks ($3.4 trillion). Americans in the bottom 50% own 0.6% of stocks ($19 billion).

Who owns most of the global wealth? ›

The richest 1% own almost half of the world's wealth, while the poorest half of the world own just 0.75% In fact, they have acquired nearly twice as much wealth in new money as the bottom 99% of the world's population.

What percentile is a $3 million net worth? ›

The 95th percentile, with a net worth of $3.2 million, is considered wealthy, facilitating estate planning and possibly owning multiple homes. The top 1%, or the 99th percentile, has a net worth of $16.7 million and represents the very wealthy, who enjoy considerable financial freedom and luxury​​.

Who controls most of the US wealth? ›

The top 1% of American earners now control more wealth than the nation's entire middle class, federal data show. More than one-quarter of all household wealth, 26.5%, belongs to Americans who earn enough money to rank in the top percentile by income, according to Federal Reserve statistics through mid-2023.

Why are all the billionaires selling their stock? ›

"Billionaire CEOs like [Jeff] Bezos, [Mark] Zuckerberg, Jamie Dimon, and the Walton family are selling off massive amounts of their own stocks, and analysts think the CEOS may be bracing for an economic downturn," he said, adding, “An overheated stock market continues to climb to new heights as investors feed that ...

Who really controls stock prices? ›

Once a company goes public and its shares start trading on a stock exchange, its share price is determined by supply and demand in the market. If there is a high demand for its shares, the price will increase.

How much of U.S. stocks are owned by China? ›

Chinese holdings of US securities reached as much as $2.1 trillion. We estimate Chinese investors held $700 billion in equity and $1.4 trillion in debt securities issued by US entities at the end of 2020.

Who owns the most of the S&P 500? ›

According to the latest figures, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street collectively own a significant percentage of the S&P 500. As of the end of 2021, BlackRock owned approximately 11% of the index, Vanguard owned approximately 10%, and State Street owned approximately 7%.

How many black Americans own stocks? ›

In 2022, nearly two-thirds of White families (66%) owned stocks directly or indirectly, compared with 39% of Black families and 28% of Hispanic families, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF).

Can non U.S. citizens own U.S. stocks? ›

There is no citizenship requirement for owning U.S. stock and foreigners can easily access U.S. stock through U.S.-based brokers and international brokers. Despite its popularity among foreign investors, many foreigners haven't properly planned for the U.S. estate tax consequences of owning U.S. stock.

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