their income, even adjusting for inflation, is up 6.6%. that s not nothing. obviously, we d like it to be more, but it is not nothing. here s what is even more surprising if you re not surprised yet, which is that people at the bottom actually did better in relative terms than people at the top. people at the bottom saw their inflation adjustment incomes go up almost 14%, while people at the top saw their inflation adjusted incomes go up by 1.6%. we don t wish will on anyone. we want people everywhere to do well. the idea that people at the bottom in the last three years have done better percentage wise than people at the top should be very good news to americans. good news, steve. i want to ask, too, about gas prices. that s the gas and groceries, the one that smacked most of us in the face. you watch it, the register rolling up. gas prices were over 5 bucks in june of 2022, now around $3.11 a gallon this morning.
the $3.11 may still seem high to people, but on an inflation-adjusted basis, it is at or below the average, really, since opec started doing its thing. food prices, which will also surprise people, were up 2.8% last year. even less than the overall inflation rate. as we move, steve, to your next chart, about this economy defying expectations, you talk to people who may even not be big fans of joe biden as we closed the year. the dow was up 37,000 from wall street s view, and for regular folks working, unemployment is down. what else are you looking at there? yeah, this was an economy and a stock market that surprised really all the experts. i don t think many predicted this. you ll see this the beginning of the year, economists were looking at a sliver of growth for the economy. some were predicting recession but not a lot of growth. what happened, and this includes the fourth quarter, which we ll get the actual number but we
you had most financial outlets and many economists assuring us that a recession was inevitable and that the unemployment rate would have to rise many points in order to get inflation down. go back a year and a half, and the price of gas was north of $5 a gallon. today, as i sit and talk to you on new year s eve day, there is no recession. unemployment has been below 4% for 22 months in a row. the price of gas this morning was $3.11 on average across the nation, and it was below $3 a gallon in 28 states. this combination of lowering inflation, and inflation is on a solid glide path back to its pre-pandemic rate, this combination of tight labor markets and easing prices has led to real wage gains. on a yearly basis, wages have been beating prices for nine months in a row. that s a trend, mike, not a blip. you reasonably ask, why isn t that reaching more americans?