Net worth by age in 2025
The Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is the Federal Reserve's survey of what American families own and owe. It has run every three years since 1989. The newest round is the 2025 survey, released on October 9, 2026, with 4,367 families interviewed. Net worth is everything a family owns minus everything it owes, and families are grouped by the age of one reference person, explained further down. All amounts are in 2025 dollars.
| Age | Median net worth | Average (mean) | Mean ÷ median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $33,000 | $135,400 | 4.1× |
| 35 to 44 | $155,600 | $681,900 | 4.4× |
| 45 to 54 | $253,700 | $1,244,500 | 4.9× |
| 55 to 64 | $411,900 | $1,878,000 | 4.6× |
| 65 to 74 | $431,300 | $1,897,600 | 4.4× |
| 75 or older | $504,900 | $1,962,200 | 3.9× |
| All families | $215,900 | $1,241,500 | 5.8× |
The median is the family in the middle: half of the group has more, half has less. The mean is the total divided by the number of families. The Federal Reserve notes that net worth tends to rise over a working life, as people save for retirement, and then levels off or falls as they spend those savings. In 2025, unlike in the previous few surveys, the oldest group came out on top: families aged 75 or older had the largest net worth, which the report traces mainly to a rise in the value of their retirement accounts.
How the numbers changed since 2022
The same report restates the 2022 results in 2025 dollars, so the two years compare directly after inflation:
| Age | Median 2022 | Median 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $42,700 | $33,000 | −23% |
| 35 to 44 | $148,400 | $155,600 | +5% |
| 45 to 54 | $270,600 | $253,700 | −6% |
| 55 to 64 | $398,900 | $411,900 | +3% |
| 65 to 74 | $448,600 | $431,300 | −4% |
| 75 or older | $367,300 | $504,900 | +37% |
| All families | $211,100 | $215,900 | +2% |
Overall, the real median rose 2 percent and the real mean 7 percent. The Federal Reserve points to the two ends of the age range: families under 35 lost ground, mainly as business equity gains made between 2019 and 2022 unwound, while families 75 or older gained 37 percent at the median.
If you have seen a 2022 median of $192,900 elsewhere, that is the same survey in 2022 dollars, as published in the Federal Reserve's October 2023 report. Each report converts all years to its own dollars with a consumer price index, so always check which dollars a table uses before you compare across years.
Why the average is so far above the median
In every age group the mean is about four to five times the median, because wealth is concentrated. The 2025 report splits families by net worth: the median for the bottom quarter is $1,700, for the next quarter $100,900, for the top tenth $4,935,200. A few families with tens of millions raise the mean for everyone, but they do not move the median at all.
That makes the mean a poor yardstick for a household. With a net worth of $500,000 at age 50 you are almost exactly twice the median of your age group ($253,700) and still less than half the mean ($1,244,500). Both statements are true, and only the first describes where you stand among your peers.
What the survey counts as net worth
The SCF's balance sheet is broad. On the asset side it counts checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, bonds and funds, retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k), 403(b) and thrift savings accounts, the cash value of life insurance, vehicles, the home, other real estate and business equity. On the other side it subtracts mortgages, home equity lines of credit, other lines of credit, student loans, car loans and other installment loans (including buy now, pay later balances since 2022), credit card balances and other debts. Card balances exclude purchases made after paying the most recent bill, so a card you pay in full each month adds little or nothing to the debt side.
Some things are left out on purpose. Social Security and employer defined-benefit pensions are not counted, because, as the Federal Reserve explains, their future payments cannot easily be turned into a current value without assumptions about work, inflation and life expectancy. Term life insurance has no cash value and does not count either. Keep that in mind if you have a pension: your net worth by this definition understates your retirement security.
Two more details matter for comparisons:
- Family, not person. The SCF's family is closer to a Census household. A couple is one family, grouped by the age of a reference person: the economically dominant single person, or within a couple the man in a mixed-sex couple or the older partner in a same-sex couple.
- A snapshot at the interview. Balances are what families reported when interviewed. Most 2025 interviews took place from April to December 2025, and about one-seventh between January and May 2026.
Net worth compared with income
The same report gives median before-tax income for each age group, measured for the calendar year before the survey, 2024, and stated in 2025 dollars. Dividing the median net worth by the median income gives a rough sense of how many years of income a typical family has built up:
| Age | Median income (2024) | Median net worth (2025) | Net worth in years of income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $67,800 | $33,000 | 0.5 |
| 35 to 44 | $97,000 | $155,600 | 1.6 |
| 45 to 54 | $108,900 | $253,700 | 2.3 |
| 55 to 64 | $92,400 | $411,900 | 4.5 |
| 65 to 74 | $69,400 | $431,300 | 6.2 |
| 75 or older | $66,800 | $504,900 | 7.6 |
| All families | $82,200 | $215,900 | 2.6 |
Read the last column with care: it divides one median by another, so it describes no particular family. Still, the pattern is clear. Under 35, the typical family's net worth is about half a year of income; by 55 to 64 it is between four and five years.
How to compare your own number
Work out your net worth the way the survey does, for the whole household. Here is an example for a couple where the reference person is 40, using the net worth calculator:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Home, at what it would sell for | $380,000 |
| 401(k) and IRA balances | $95,000 |
| Savings and checking | $18,000 |
| Car, at resale value | $22,000 |
| Total assets | $515,000 |
| Mortgage balance | −$290,000 |
| Car loan | −$14,000 |
| Student loans | −$21,000 |
| Net worth | $190,000 |
$190,000 is above the $155,600 median for ages 35 to 44 and far below the $681,900 mean. Notice where the number comes from: most of it is $90,000 of home equity and $95,000 in retirement accounts, neither of which pays a surprise bill. That is why net worth is only half of the picture.
- Check your cash cushion separately. A high net worth locked in a house does not cover a job loss. The emergency fund calculator sizes the cash part.
- Look forward, not just sideways. The median of your age group is a midpoint, not a target. The retirement savings calculator projects whether your savings rate gets you where you want to be.
- Turn the gap into a monthly number. If you want to reach a figure by a date, the savings goal calculator works out how much to put aside each month.
- Track the trend. Save a snapshot in the net worth calculator once or twice a year. The direction of your own number says more than any table.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good net worth at 30?
There is no official benchmark. What the Survey of Consumer Finances can tell you is where the middle is: in 2025, half of families whose reference person was under 35 had a net worth below $33,000. Your own trend matters more than the comparison: a net worth that grows each year because you save and pay down debt is on the right track.
Does the median include home equity?
Yes. The survey counts the primary residence and other real estate as assets and the mortgages on them as debts, so home equity is part of net worth. Retirement accounts, vehicles and business equity count too. Social Security and traditional employer pensions are left out, because the Federal Reserve says their future payments cannot easily be turned into a current value.
Is net worth by age measured per person or per household?
Per family, which the Federal Reserve says is closer to what the Census Bureau calls a household. A married couple is one family with one net worth, grouped by the age of one reference person. To compare, add up both partners' assets and debts.
Why is the average net worth so much higher than the median?
Because a small number of very wealthy families pull the mean up. In 2025 the median net worth of the top tenth of families by wealth was $4,935,200. The median ignores how big the top values are; it is simply the family in the middle. For comparing yourself with a typical family, use the median.
Why did net worth fall for the youngest families?
The median for families under 35 dropped 23 percent between the 2022 and 2025 surveys, to $33,000. The Federal Reserve attributes the decline mainly to the unwinding of business equity gains these families had made between 2019 and 2022.
Sources
- Federal Reserve Board, Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances, October 2026 (tables 1 and 2, appendixes A and B)
- Federal Reserve Board, press release: Federal Reserve Board releases results of the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, October 9, 2026
- Federal Reserve Board, Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2019 to 2022: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances, October 2023