Visualizing Net Worth by Age in America

The Briefing

• The age group with the highest average net worth in the U.S. is the 65-74 group, with $1.22 million in 2019 dollars.
• There is a significant gap between median and mean (average) net worth in nearly every age category, suggesting that mean values are skewed upwards by outliers.

Visualizing Net Worth by Age in America

Calculating the net worth of individuals often seems like the kind of math reserved only for the richest people in the world like Elon Musk or Jack Ma. But as the proverbial pie gets bigger, the net worth of the average American household gets bigger as well.

This chart uses data from the U.S. Federal Reserve Bulletin to reveal median and average household net worth across different age categories in 2019.

Average vs. Median Net Worth

A person’s net worth is a sum of their assets and liabilities. Here’s a closer look at net worth by age in the U.S.

The age group with the highest net worth is those aged 65-74, sitting at around $1.22 million. Coming in at a close second, are 55-64 year olds, at $1.18 million. However, these are the numbers using the average, while median net worth is quite different.

Median net worth at 65-74, for example, is $266,000, a difference of over $950,000 compared to the average. This reveals that there are likely high net worth individuals skewing the average towards over a million dollars in the same age category.

Both average and median net worth appear to increase throughout one’s life, trailing off slightly around the 75+ age range.

Trends in Net Worth

With the economic impacts of COVID-19, it’s possible that median net worth growth could taper off across nearly every age category, as people lose jobs, income, and assets such as houses.

Average net worth, on the other hand, may not drop as significantly, as a handful of American billionaires have actually increased their net worth during the pandemic.

Overall, wealth has been generally increasing in America with a consistent rise in average and median net worth occurring over the three years leading up to the pandemic. And while this steady increase has likely been slightly derailed, the general trends in asset ownership and income increases over time, bode well for Americans.

Where does this data come from?

Source: U.S. Federal Reserve Bulletin.
Details: Data is in 2019 U.S. dollars.