If you are a frequent listener of “Marketplace” — or even an infrequent listener, for that matter — you are well aware that the American consumer is the beating heart of this economy, accounting for almost 70% of U.S. GDP.

Turns out though in recent years, all that spending has been increasingly driven by a relatively small group of people. Namely, pretty well-off people.

According to a recent analysis from Moody’s Analytics for the Wall Street Journal, households with the top 10% of incomes, making about $250,000 or more a year, now account for nearly half of all consumer spending — the highest share since they’ve been collecting data on this stuff.

You know how there are certain words or turns of phrase that you only really associate with the top end of the income scale? Like using a season as a verb. As in: “We typically summer in the south of France.” Or, “last Christmas, we wintered in St. Barts.”

Apparently, there’s been more summering and wintering lately.

“When you look at the dynamics I think there certainly is evidence to support that,” said Michael Brown, principal U.S. economist at Visa.

Obviously there’s always been a spending gap between rich and not as rich. But Brown said the chasm really started widening in 2023 and has been the widest during summer and winter.

“If you’re summering, and you’re in this affluent category, you’re probably traveling abroad,” he said. “If you’re lower income or maybe even lower middle income, maybe you’re driving to some of those destinations particularly given the cost of things going up.”

While inflation and a softening labor market have crimped lower income budgets, it hasn’t really restrained high-earners from splurging.

That’s partly because richer households tend to own stocks and maybe the only thing rising faster than the price of eggs the past couple years has been NVIDIA shares.

Economist Mark Zandi at Moody’s said that makes the economy overall more vulnerable.

“I mean if their spending is being driven by record stock prices, I wouldn’t count on that for sustaining long-term economic growth,” he said.

Some economists argue that richer households tend to spend more on labor-intensive goods and services, which is good for the job market.

But Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said a more equal distribution of incomes and consumption could reorient what jobs are created in the first place.

“Maybe we’d have fewer people working in really high end hotels and resorts and a lot more people working in elder care and child care,” he said.

Bivens said with a more even distribution of incomes, more people could afford care for their parents and children.

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