Reflections on Americans' Net Worth

The 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances shows that Americans’ median net worth exceeds six figures by their mid-30s, with 75th-percentile households becoming millionaires by their mid-50s and 90th-percentile households by around 40. Wealth grows roughly 30-fold from ages 18-24 to 65-69, peaks near 70, and declines slowly thereafter, leaving most retirees well above Social Security needs. Low or negative net worth is almost exclusively a young-adult phenomenon; older adults with low wealth face near-impossible recovery.