Corporate profits have grown substantially faster than employee compensation in recent decades. While the two measures tracked closely for most of the 20th century, workers have shared less of the gains more recently. Since 2000, employee compensation has increased 28 percent after inflation and corporate profits have increased 107 percent. Compounding this problem for many families, the gap between top earners and the average worker at corporations has also grown. In 1965, a CEO at one of the largest 350 companies in America made 20 times as much as the average worker in their industry. Today CEOs at the largest 350 firms average 312 times more, earning an average of nearly $19 million last year.

Last year, the United States reported the first increase in homelessness in seven years. More than 550,000 people were estimated to be homeless on a single night, including more than 40,000 veterans and over 40,000 young people.

Although the U.S. economy overall continues its expansion following the Great Recession and associated financial crisis, the recovery can look very different from state to state. The lion’s share of economic gains are not only concentrated at the top of the income and wealth distribution, but also in a small share of regions. While some parts of the country have surged ahead, millions of Americans in urban and rural communities are still waiting for their wages to start rising again and struggling to make ends meet.