Households 75 and Older Now Lead U.S. Median Wealth

Households headed by someone 75 or older now hold the highest median net worth of any U.S. age group, at $504,900. The Federal Reserve’s triennial wealth survey, released Oct. 9, 2026, put that figure 37 percent above 2022 after inflation. About 18 million families sit in that band, 13.4 percent of U.S. households and the smallest age group in the study.

The same three years left families under 35 with a median of $33,000, down 23 percent, and 19.6 percent of families late on a loan. The oldest group did not get there by waiting. It already held the houses and stocks that rose.

Households 75 and Older Pass the Near-Retirees

In 2022, families headed by someone 65 to 74 still sat on top, with a median of $448,600. By 2025 that group’s median had slipped 4 percent, to $431,300. Families 75 or older jumped from $367,300 to $504,900 and took the lead. The Fed’s Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025 report says the rise for the oldest group is so large that they now exceed families that are nearly or recently retired, “which saw some declines.”

Across all families, real median net worth rose only 2 percent, to $215,900. The mean rose 7 percent, to $1,241,500. That split is the survey in one line: a typical household moved little, while families that already had assets moved more. The survey interviewed 4,367 families, mostly from April through December 2025. All dollar figures are in 2025 dollars.

MEDIAN NET WORTH BY AGE OF THE REFERENCE PERSON

Families 35 to 44 ticked up 5 percent, to $155,600. Ages 45 to 54 fell 6 percent, to $253,700. Ages 55 to 64 rose 3 percent, to $411,900. Mean net worth for the 75-or-older group rose 10 percent, to $1.96 million, which shows how a thin slice of very rich families pulls the average far above the midpoint.

Median income for families 75 or older rose 24 percent, to $67,000, the largest income gain by age. The Fed notes that some of that can come from who still heads a household at that age, though retirement income growth “seems to play a key role.” For all families, real median income rose 7 percent, to $82,200, while mean income fell 6 percent, to $145,200, as the top of the income scale moved down.

Why Under-35 Wealth Fell 23 Percent

Families younger than 35 saw median net worth fall 23 percent, to $33,000, and mean net worth fall 33 percent, to $135,400. They are the largest age group in the survey, about one in five households. The Fed traces most of that drop to the unwinding of business-equity gains booked between 2019 and 2022, not to a sudden collapse in wages. Conditional on owning a private business, the median value fell 23 percent, to $75,400, even as 15.4 percent of families owned one.

Mean income for families 35 to 44 fell 25 percent, driven by a drop in capital-gains income. That is a paper loss sitting next to a labor market that still lifted median pay at the bottom. Wealth followed assets. Income did not rebuild the balance sheet for households that never held those assets in the first place.

WHO LOST GROUND FROM 2022 TO 2025

• Young families: Median net worth for heads under 35 fell from $42,700 to $33,000 after the earlier business-equity bump faded.
• Renters: Median net worth fell 7 percent, to $10,600, while homeowners rose 6 percent, to $458,900.
• The bottom quarter: Median net worth fell 56 percent, from $3,800 to $1,700.
• Near-retirees: The 65-to-74 median, which led in 2022, fell 4 percent, to $431,300.
• Non-stock owners: Stock-market participation fell from 58 percent of families to 56 percent, with the drop concentrated outside the top 10 percent of income.

The top 10 percent of families by net worth saw their median rise 31 percent, to $3,669,900. The Fed’s own summary is blunt: changes in wealth “largely reinforced existing patterns of wealth inequality by family characteristics.” Families that typically have less wealth, including young families, renters, and those without a high school diploma, saw median wealth decline.

The Housing Stock Younger Buyers Cannot Reach

Homeownership held near 66 percent. For families that owned a home, median net housing value, the house minus the mortgage and other home-secured debt, rose from $218,900 to $230,000. The Fed said housing affordability stayed near its historical low, with the median home worth more than 4.5 times median family income. Between surveys, real GDP grew at about 2½ percent a year, the jobless rate rose from 3.7 percent to 4.2 percent, and consumer prices rose at a 3.6 percent average annual rate.

That modest rise in home equity still accrued to people who already owned. A Redfin analysis of Federal Reserve data found Americans 70 and older held 26 percent of U.S. real estate wealth in the third quarter of 2025, out of $48 trillion. Two decades earlier the share was 16.6 percent. A decade earlier it was 21.6 percent. In the second quarter of 2025, the 70-and-older group passed ages 40 to 54 for the first time in the Fed series that starts in 1989. By the third quarter both groups held 26 percent. People under 40 held 12.6 percent, little changed from 11.9 percent a decade earlier.

Breaking into homeownership wasn’t an easy feat for baby boomers, who faced high inflation and high interest rates. But mortgage rates then entered a decades-long decline, fueling years of home price growth that benefited baby boomers. Those home price gains, along with a rebound in mortgage rates in recent years, have pushed homeownership out of reach for many younger Americans.

Daryl Fairweather, chief economist, Redfin

The typical first-time buyer was 35 in 2025, Redfin said. Older owners can sit on low-rate mortgages and rising equity. Younger buyers meet the same houses at higher prices and higher rates. The 75-or-older median is, in large part, that lock showing up as net worth.

401(k) Millionaires and a Thinner Stock Market

The S&P 500 gained about 78 percent from the end of 2022 through 2025, the window the Fed’s report covers. Families that held stocks rode that. Families that did not, did not. Participation in the stock market, including stocks held through funds and retirement accounts, fell from 58 percent to 56 percent. Among families that did hold stock, the median holding rose 36 percent, from $56,900 to $77,400.

Retirement-plan participation, counting account-type plans, IRAs, or defined-benefit plans, was about 65 percent. For families with account-type plans, the conditional median balance rose 11 percent, to $106,000. That is the same bull market, seen through a 401(k) window that older workers have had decades to fill.

WHAT THE RALLY LOOKED LIKE IN ACCOUNTS

• Fidelity 401(k) millionaires: Fidelity Investments counted a record 769,000 workplace accounts of $1 million or more at the end of June 2026.
• Who they are: The typical such saver is 58 and has been contributing for about 25 years, at an individual savings rate of about 17.3 percent.
• By generation: Gen X made up 62 percent of those millionaire accounts, baby boomers about 31 percent, and millennials 6 percent.
• The typical balance: Fidelity’s average 401(k) was $155,800; the median was $35,800. The employee contribution rate was 9.6 percent.

A seven-figure 401(k) is still a thin slice of Fidelity’s book. The SCF makes the same point at national scale: fewer families owned stock after the rally, and the families that did own it held more. Direct stock ownership also fell, from 21 percent of families to 19 percent.

Almost 20 Percent of Families Missed a Payment

Seventy-seven percent of families carried some form of debt. Leverage, debt relative to assets, kept easing for those borrowers, to a median of 26.9 percent. Payments relative to income went the other way. The median debt payment-to-income ratio among debtors rose 2.0 percentage points, to 15.4 percent. The share of families sending more than 40 percent of income to debt service rose from 6.5 percent to 8.6 percent, a level last seen in the 2013 survey.

Families were more likely to be behind on their financial obligations than at any point since the 2010 survey.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Consumer Finances

Among families asked about loan payments, 19.6 percent said they had been late in the prior year, up from 12.2 percent. The share at least 60 days late rose from 5 percent to 8.2 percent. The Fed tied the rise in payment strain to higher rates on mortgages and consumer loans, and to income drops for some families, even as asset values grew for others.

That is the other half of the same three years. Households with stocks and paid-down houses booked a higher net worth. Households servicing credit cards, car notes, and remaining mortgages at higher rates fell behind. The survey does not capture the later pickup in energy prices in 2026. It already shows more payment stress than at any point since the 2010 wave.

A $504,900 Median Still Lives in the House

A median of $504,900 sounds like a nest egg. For a large share of these families it is a house they still live in, plus retirement accounts that throw off required withdrawals, not a cash pile. Mean net worth of $1.96 million for the same age group is the tell: a minority of very wealthy households sit far above the midpoint, and the midpoint itself is heavy with housing. Treat the $504,900 as spendable income and the figure misleads.

The Census Bureau’s official poverty rate for people 65 and older was 9.8 percent in 2025 on the official+ measure. The Supplemental Poverty Measure, which subtracts medical expenses, put the rate at 15.4 percent, the widest gap of any age group. The richest age band on the Fed’s median still includes millions of older adults with little room after housing and health costs.

Public SCF datasets going back to 1989 will let researchers slice these files for years. The next full wave is three years out. Until then, the 2025 survey leaves a simple split on the page: families that held the assets that inflated now sit at the top of the age table, and families that did not are the ones late on the bill.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Often Does the Federal Reserve Run the Survey of Consumer Finances?

The Fed has run the modern SCF every three years since 1989, with a mix of an area-probability sample and a list sample aimed at wealthy families. The 2025 wave completed interviews with 4,367 families. Missing values are filled in five times, which produces 21,835 records in the internal file, and seven observations are stripped from the public file for disclosure. Response is lower at the top of the wealth scale; the list sample’s overall completion rate was about 24 percent, and the strata with the likely wealthiest families came in around 18 percent.

What Does the SCF Count as a Family’s Net Worth?

Net worth is the family’s assets minus its debts at the time of the interview. Assets include the primary residence, other property, vehicles, privately held businesses, retirement accounts, stocks, pooled funds, and bank deposits. Debts include mortgages, home-equity lines, credit cards, student loans, car loans, and other consumer credit. A family is a homeowner if at least one person owns at least some part of the primary residence. The SCF “family” unit can be a single person or a couple and the people who live with them as an economic unit.

Why Is Mean Net Worth So Much Higher Than the Median?

The median is the midpoint: half of families have more, half have less. The mean adds every family’s wealth and divides by the number of families, so a small number of very rich households pull it up. For ages 75 and older, that gap is $504,900 at the median versus $1.96 million at the mean. For all families it is $215,900 versus $1,241,500. When the two move apart, wealth gains are concentrating above the midpoint.

What Is a Debt Payment-to-Income Ratio Above 40 Percent?

It is the Fed’s marker for a heavy payment burden: scheduled debt payments eat more than 40 percent of family income. The ratio counts debt payments only, not rent or car leases, though the SCF also collects those. In 2025, 8.6 percent of families cleared that line, up from 6.5 percent in 2022. The median ratio among families that have debt was 15.4 percent. A high ratio is a warning on cash flow. It is not the same as a missed payment, which is a separate question in the survey.

Disclaimer: This article is news reporting and analysis of Federal Reserve, Census Bureau, Redfin, and Fidelity figures. It is for information only and is not investment, tax, retirement, or personal-finance advice. It does not recommend buying, selling, or holding any asset, or changing a debt, housing, or savings plan. Readers should consult a qualified financial planner, tax professional, or housing counselor before acting on any number in this piece. The figures and statuses reflect the cited surveys and reports as of their publication dates and will change with markets, prices, and the next SCF wave.