Wyoming County Signals Rise of 'American Plutocracy'

In Wyoming's Teton County, home of the highest wealth inequality in the nation, the average single-family home sells for $7 million—and the morgue is in a garage. That's the contrast the New York Times' Katie Benner, Steven Rich, Mike Baker, and John Branch lay out in a sweeping look at how Jackson Hole has become both a magnet for America's richest residents and, they argue, an early glimpse of the country's next Gilded Age. The Times traces how Trump-era tax cuts, booming stock markets, and the pandemic's asset surge helped push the number of US billionaires above 900 and supercharged fortunes like Joe Ricketts', whose wealth jumped from $1 billion to $8 billion.

The wealthiest Americans saw their net worth grow by 120% in eight years. In Teton County, the top 1% now take in about $35 million a year on average—221 times everyone else. The tax cuts hurt local government revenues and fed a critical housing shortage, forcing workers to commute over a mountain pass or live in cars. While basic services strain for funding, ultrawealthy residents shape Wyoming politics, tax policy, schools, conservation fights, and even airport upgrades, "planting the seeds of an American plutocracy," the authors write. For a data-heavy, on-the-ground tour of what concentrated wealth looks like in one county—and what it might signal for the rest of America—read the full piece.