What the Federal Reserve's survey actually found, why the average is the wrong number to compare with, and what most households' net worth is made of.
Every three years the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances asks several thousand families what they own and owe, in more detail than any other source. The 2022 survey is the most recent with published results. Here is family net worth by the age of the head of household, in 2022 dollars:
| Age of head of household | Median | Mean |
|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $39,000 | $183,500 |
| 35 to 44 | $135,600 | $549,600 |
| 45 to 54 | $247,200 | $975,800 |
| 55 to 64 | $364,500 | $1,566,900 |
| 65 to 74 | $409,900 | $1,794,600 |
| 75 or older | $335,600 | $1,624,100 |
| All families | $192,900 | $1,063,700 |
The median rises in every age group up to 65 to 74 and then falls at 75 and older. Part of that is retirees drawing on their savings, and part is that older generations started with less; a single snapshot cannot separate the two. What it does show is that the biggest step comes early: the median more than triples between the under-35 and the 35-to-44 groups.
The median is the household in the middle: half have more, half have less. The mean adds everyone up and divides, so a few families with hundreds of millions move it a great deal. Across all families the mean is 5.5 times the median, and in every age group it is at least 3.9 times.
So when a headline says the average person in their thirties is worth half a million dollars, it is quoting a mean, and it describes almost nobody. If you want to know where you stand, compare yourself with the median for your age.
In 2022, 66.1% of families owned their home, and the Federal Reserve describes the balance sheet of families in the middle of the distribution as dominated by housing. That has two consequences. Net worth for most people rises and falls with local home prices, and most of it cannot be spent without selling or borrowing against the house.
It also explains the survey's headline: real median net worth rose 37% from 2019 to 2022, the largest three-year increase in the modern survey, over a period of fast-rising home and stock prices. For households headed by someone under 35, the median more than doubled. That is why the net worth calculator also shows liquid net worth, the part you could actually use in an emergency.
The best-known one comes from The Millionaire Next Door (1996): multiply your age by your pre-tax income and divide by ten. A 30-year-old earning the median full-time wage of $65,052 a year would "expect" $195,156, five times what the median household under 35 actually has. The book used it to spot unusually strong savers, not to describe an ordinary household.
A more useful test is direction. Is your net worth higher than it was a year ago, and is the part you could actually spend growing too? A negative number early on, usually from student loans, is common and says little about where it goes next.
The mean for all families is $1,063,700 and the median is $192,900. More than half of households have less than a fifth of the average.
Student loans taken to raise future earnings put many people below zero at the start. What matters is whether the number rises, and the median under 35 is $39,000, not a large figure to begin with.
Home equity is real wealth, but it can only be spent by selling or borrowing, and both cost money. For the 66.1% of families who own, it is usually most of their net worth, which is why liquid net worth is worth tracking separately.
All net worth figures are from the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, in 2022 dollars, by the age of the family's reference person. The median full-time wage is the Bureau of Labor Statistics' median usual weekly earnings for the second quarter of 2026, $1,251, times 52.
Nothing is saved or sent anywhere; this just checks your answers in the page itself.
The 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances had not been published when this was written. These figures will be updated when it is.