Survey reveals Claude users are nearly twice as wealthy as ChatGPT users — but still reach only 6% of high-income Americans

A survey by Epoch AI and Ipsos (conducted March–April 2026) found that 80% of Claude's US weekly active users live in households earning over $100,000 annually — compared to 64% for Microsoft Copilot, 56% for ChatGPT, and 37% for Meta AI. Among high-income households specifically, ChatGPT dominates at 37% usage, followed by Google Gemini at 24%, while Claude reaches only 6%.

Claude's wealth concentration is notably higher than competitors, but the absolute user footprint remains small. Even among the wealthiest Americans, 44% use no AI assistant at all, and ChatGPT's reach among high earners is six times larger than Claude's — showing that income-skewed adoption doesn't translate to market dominance.

If wealthier users gain access to more capable AI models, economic inequality could widen: Anthropic's own research found that users of stronger AI models negotiate better prices in transactions, while users of weaker models don't realize they're at a disadvantage. Since Claude users are disproportionately affluent and already using a stronger model, this pattern could compound existing wealth gaps in purchasing power and negotiating outcomes.