Rank your total net worth to specific age ranges to see your net worth percentile rank calculated. Find out where you stand or where you project yourself to be in the future. Use the percentiles to compare your net-worth to US households using data from 2022. To use this calculator, enter the age ranges of the head of households you would like to restrict your comparison to and a net worth value to rank with in that age range. Read about how closely this calculator matches official US Treasury published statistics.
If you need help calculating your net worth, try out How to Calculate your Net Worth for a guided tool. It will ask for you assets, such as stocks and savings accounts, and subtract your liabilities, such as loans, to figure out your net worth for you. You can take that number back to this page to compare your net worth to others.
Net Worth Summary Statistics
Household Ranking:
Median Net Worth : $279,200
Mean Net Worth : $1,007,187
Net Worth 25th - 75th Percentile Ranges : $30,150 to $943,500
Re-calculate percentile for a different Age / Net Worth combination.
Continue scrolling to see distribution graphs and additional statistics.
Net Worth Percentiles
75th Percentile: $943,500
95th Percentile: $3,368,800
99th Percentile: $11,199,300
I couldn't fit all the ultra-rich 99%+ on this graph, so they're lumped into the last bar.
Net Worth Percentile Stats
- To be in the top 1% for this age range, your household would need a net worth of $11,199,300. This would include investments, houses, and other assets.
- To be in the top 5% for this age range, your household would need an net worth of $3,368,800. This would include investments, houses, and other assets.
- Your net worth of $3,600,000 for ages 51 to 51 ranks at the 95.15th percentile. Re-enter a different net worth to find the percentile for that age / net worth combination.
Net Worth Related Pages
In addition, I have created a non-profit CEO income percentile page using data from publicly available IRS 990s. You may also be interested in the income percentile calculator.
If you’re interested in occupation level income percentiles, you can explore our new calculators. See the full occupation list or explore common occupations such as software developers, CEOs, or retail salespersons.
Asset Composition of Households like you versus the Median
Comparisons of Net Worth, Assets, and Debt components of similar households versus median households.
- Households like you ( weighted using 90.2th to 100th percentiles)
- Versus Households at the Median (weighted using 45th to 55th percentiles)
| Asset Category | Similar Households | Median Households |
|---|---|---|
| Net Worth: | $3,931,493 | $279,200 |
| Total Assets: | $4,342,575 | $397,580 |
| Financial Assets: | $1,515,653 | $71,777 |
| Main House: | $973,395 | $266,891 |
| Other Assets: | $1,853,528 | $58,912 |
| Total Debts: | $411,082 | $118,380 |
| Main Mortgage: | $319,921 | $103,831 |
| Other Debts: | $91,161 | $14,550 |
Comparisons of Income components of similar households versus median households.
| Income Category | Similar Households | Households with Median Net Worth |
|---|---|---|
| Total Income: | $499,306 | $86,083 |
| Wage & Salary Income: | $313,783 | $76,962 |
| Other Income: | $185,523 | $9,121 |
Demographics of Comparable Head of Households
The age range you selected may not give enough results for these graphs to load enough data. A wider range of 5-10 years is recommended for more insightful graphs.Highest Education Level
Race
Labor Force Status
Marriage Status
Net Worth Percentiles For Ages 51 to 51
| Percentile | Net Worth (in Dollars) |
|---|---|
| 90% | $2,455,000 |
| 80% | $1,046,600 |
| 70% | $682,770 |
| 60% | $389,250 |
| 50% | $279,200 |
| 40% | $134,800 |
| 30% | $55,700 |
| 20% | $19,800 |
| 10% | $360 |
Share These Results :
These results are based off of 410 individual samples where the head of household was age 51 to 51 and are weighted to represent 2222998 American households. The SCF is known to be slightly biased towards higher incomes values, which the Federal Reserve attempts to correct for by adjusting the weighting of each individual response. Keep this in mind if the number of responses your output is based off of is low, or if you are looking at the tail ends of the data--like the top 1% or bottom 1%.
The numbers are based off of the results of the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances by the Federal Reserve. I used R to separate one of the five imputations with the sample replicatant weights from the Federal Reserve.
Net Worth Links and Addendums
- Update: October 2023, I have updated this to 2022. What a huge difference 3 years made. There is a sample in the data for a billionaire! I had to revamp the database to accommodate so many digits.
- Update: September 2017, the data now reflects the 2016 SCF data. Median net worth has risen around 16% (adjust for inflation). Some of the age ranges look a little more irregular than usual, so I will be on the lookout for any additional updates from the Federal Reserve. As of 2/24/2018 there have been no updates to the data that was published.
- Update: August 2017, I’m updating some of the net worth graphs in anticipation for the 2016 SCF data that should be released at the end of August or beginning of September. I’ve also deleted some of the visualizations that were slowing down the webpage without really adding a lot. Sign up for the email list if you would like to be notified when we update the data!
- Update: April 2019, stock net worth is at an all time high, so the wealth at the upper end of the distribution will be somewhat higher than the most recently published SCF data. Since this kind of asset is heavily concentrated, the middle and lower ends of the distribution will not be as heavily affected by rising stocks.
- Update: Jan 2020, there are now breakdowns of typical asset / debt compositions for households at the median and near your input net worth, as well as related pages that relate to specific occupations.
- Update: August 2020, I added a new graph of the distribution of net worth by frequency. This graph for all age ranges is a little bit hard to read because of how many households are at 0. The distribution for 99%+ goes really far out, so I have the graph cutting those values off after a little bit to save horizontal space.
- Update: September 2020, these results now reflect the 2019 SCF.
- Note: September 2021, just a quick note because of the large ramp up in the stock market and housing markets since 2019. You may want to assume that your current percentile is actually lower. For the 80%+ percentiles financial assets represent a relatively high portion of those household’s net worth.
- Mark Twain once said that “Comparison is the death of joy.” Net worth is an important metric but it doesn’t define you.
- One interesting tid-bit about net worth is that the median net worth for a 30 year old has dropped by over half in the last 10 years.
- Read about the overall distribution of net worth by age. The article compares the 25th to 75th percentiles in net worth
115 thoughts on “Net Worth Percentile Calculator by Age”
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Well said! Dilly Dilly!! Money is time. That’s amazing and SO true.
Regarding the pension value:
If someone works at a job for only 10 years and earns pension benefits from that job (to be given at retirement age, many years down the road) before moving on to the next job, then that future income has a real present value. I guess it could be considered “potential” benefits because no one knows if the company goes under between now and then, but for the most part the net present value is real and can be considered an asset with a lump sum similar to an annuity. For instance, ask 1) a bank lender who want to loan you money, or 2) a lawyer who wants to sue your pants off – if they know you have guaranteed money on the horizon their mouths water.
I ran across this post. A guaranteed income doesn’t automatically attract lawyers like a shark to blood. I happen to have a disability income that currently and has been paying me for the past 30 yrs. Under Texas law, this type of payment/income is shielded from any type of civil law suit capture.
Congratulations on what you have accomplished. I don’t count annuities or SS in the calculation of net worth but I have mixed feelings about whether or not one should. Both have value. The annuity very probably could be sold and perhaps that income stream is really an asset. SS is tougher to justify but it is an income stream that increases the value of other holdings, because it is, then, not necessary to spend them and the asset remainder can be maintained. All net worth calculations are an estimate anyway short of complete knowledge about future growth/loss and tax policy.
I compute Net Worth two ways, one including SS and my pension and, the second without. I include SS and a pension in the first calculation as they allow me to NOT withdraw any funds (to live on) from my investments, so they continue to grow. As I am 78 years old, my fund manage does withdraw the RMD and sends 25% to the IRS – the balance (75%) is reinvested in low cost index funds.
By calculating NW both ways, I get a better picture of where I stand.
Alas, if a good part of that net worth is in your residence, which doesn’t provide liquid dividends or interest, your 3% guide will not work. And I imagine most folks worth $4.5M aren’t living in a $50K shack.
Some are.
Agreed. A stream of periodically recurring income into the future is an asset. That is what a pension or any other type of recurring stream of income is. The PV of that asset is what should be considered as the current net value. So, a more important question is: “what discount rate should i be using to calculate the PV of my pension?” I use a discount factor of 3.5% that represents inflation and a partial risk free rate. Also, if there are indexed Cost of Living increases, then one must use the Multi Period Excess Earnings method of PV to capture the increases out in time.
Certainly, there is value in a stream of recurring payments. The key is to calculate its current value (Present Value) accurately and reasonably.
Dear Abner (He, His, Her, Her’s, etc.)
Judging from your smugness, I would put a high probability on the reality of your stated net worth being from elicit activities. And another high probability on the reality that you are a liar.
Also, your smugness and willingness to lash out at someone that you do not know with your spewing stream of self centered vitriol is a sure sign of NPD.
Do you know what that is, my young friend?
The highest probability of all is that your NPD sickness will cost you all of your net worth and you will live a life of anger and destitution.
Pity for all that to happen to such a wonderful person Abner, don’t you think?
Kind Regards-
Abner Barnes and Cecil Burrow comments are clearly a bogus and probably form someone with less than $10 in the bank. Someone with a net worth of $15 and $150 million wouldn’t even make arrogant comments like this. I’m 52 and may be hitting a restructuring point with my employer who was just bought by another so I have been giving this some thought lately. Living in the more affordable midwest with a real current neat worth of a tick over 1.4 million excluding my primary home and at a 4% SWR, would live quite happily on $56k a year with only paying federal taxes in my state based on retirement tax rules. Even bit less. I currently own a 2900 sq. ft 4 bed room newer home, an older Porsche 911, BMW, 7 Rolex watches and have everything I need to enjoy a forced early retirement if it happens.
Wow! 7 Rolex watches! My Timex just keeps on ticking. Seriously, I understand your point about the cost of living. We currently have a net worth around $3m excluding our home which has considerable equity. However, we live in the northeast. At some point in the next 6 to 8 years, it would be wise for us to relocate. At that point I am not certain that buying property would even make sense. I want to unlock the equity I have. I see no reason to keep it illiquid when I will be well into my sixties.
Hello Carl. I meant to finish my comment by saying at my age, there isn’t another piece of materialistic crap I could even want so in other words, I have all the toys I need. I did end up being let go with a group of others so I officially retired at 54. Even at $1.4, I do not consider myself rich at all however with the savings I have in a bank money market, I can live on $30k per year for the next 12 years without tapping my IRA’s and then adjust down if need when I start drawing SS.
I’m sure you had help with your net worth from Mommy and dad I think this is for people who earned all their net worth on they’re own with no help from others!
I think your net worth number will need to exclude all future taxes. Do an estimate of the various taxes on your existing assets based on federal & state tax percentages, with the assumption that you will liquidate them at a future time. Warren Buffett calls taxes on investment gains a no-interest loan from the government that you repay later when you exit the investment. It’s a nice thought. 🙂
What did you mean when you said money keeps the children in touch? It is to fund travels to visit them?
I agree with you. To not count a pension is crazy. I have about $800000 in savings and will get a pension of about 100% of my teachers salary (I’ve worked 37 years, with a masters degree teaching math, doing summer school and computer programming side gig jobs.) I don’t care what anyone says, I’m retiring on $180000 a year, with built-in inflation adjusters for life, and that’s just fine. If I live 20 years, that’s $3600000 — excluding my tract house. Comparatively speaking, I worked for every last nickel and anything I have left is going to the poor and needy, which is about 90% of everyone I’ve ever known. Many of these people on this blog sound greedy and most seem unhinged.
Depends on the pension. Mine has options (50%, 75%, 100) to give my spouse continued payments after my death if I accept a lower payment.
I recently turned 40, and decided to look into where I stood vis-a-vis others in their late 30s and early 40s. We are childless, with an approximate net worth of $1.25m. One primary residence paid for, one investment property that’s not. 2 adults with 4 paid off vehicles (VW GTI, Mazda6, 90s Ford Ranger and nearly 50 year old 911). Roughly $400k in retirement for me thus far, she’s got less but will also get a pension that I am not including here. HHI just north of $160k excluding bonus. We are blessed to live in a seaside college town here in RI. We go out for dinner on Friday nights. I make coffee at home and bring a lunch just about every day. I am apparently known as ‘Mr Self Sufficient’ by our neighbors who watch me do things like vehicle repairs, build furniture, tune skis, do much of the work on home renovation projects etc. It’s how I was raised. They also say things like ‘it must be nice’ re skiing / sailing / my somewhat expensive bicycle…but then they go out and waste money on cruises, dine out all the time, always have the latest iphones / ipads, lease entry level lux vehicles…it’s a different lifestyle. If I had another $3m to my name, I am not sure I would live much differently. Do you want stuff or experiences?
You are so right. I am 54 in just about the exact same boat as you. I plan to take 1 million of this and set it and forget it until i am 65 with hopes of a little over 2.5 million by then and no debt!
I like the detail about your personal experience and finances – so many people don’t share enough to allow a feel for the lifestyle choices that have led to a healthy net worth. You are clearly not only great saver but careful with spending. Nice job 🙂
The real rich person is not the number but the degree of inner happiness, if you have high number saving but are selfish, too bad you are very poor, to the end of your life, it does not generate any value for you, you just waste this life till next cycle and probably will be a beggar or homeless.
Get Real! Net Worth is current value of your assets. SS, Pensions, and Life Insurance all factor into your cash flow but only adds to net worth as you consume it.
I am about 3-4 years from retirement
I think I have enough money approx 4M in net worth including residentence
lots in stock about 60%, didn’t start out that way as there was about 35% of net worth 5 -6 years ago but its grown faster then other assets because they have grown so quickly typical stocks AAPL GOOG DIS COST etc all doing well
As I get closer to retirement should I re balance and if I sell about 500K -750 K in stocks where to put it is the question to generate about a 4-5% safe return
open to suggestions
thanks
While no investment is truly safe, you might consider putting your rebalance funds into BKLN which provides about 5%. I also have substantial funds in precious metal mining company SBGL to protect against inflation risk better than conventional stocks.
What is SBGL?
If your stock wealth is in those huge, dominant companies, I wouldn’t worry too much. But if you are happy with the gains you have already made on some of these major stocks and are willing to part with them, you might consider selling call options on your stock. This essentially means you get paid a fee by others in exchange for the right for them to buy your stock at a certain price. It the stock doesn’t reach that price by a certain date, you keep the fee. If it reaches that price by a certain date, you sell the stock (taking your existing profit) and keep the fee as well. It will take a bit of work to learn and research how to do this, but options can be used to create additional income while slowly rebalancing your assets.
I haven’t any stock. Real Estate is where I suggest you invest. Not the expensive oceanfront properties that can either double in value, or lose 50% in value practically overnight.
I have a mobile home park. The poor will always be with us. I’m guessing a third of Americans exist on less than $25,000 income a year. For the past 25 years I’ve provided an affordable,safe, and clean mobile home community in a good school district for families to live. They have provided me with a cash flow that has allowed 2 of my daughters to attend UNC Chapel Hill and 1 daughter to be a Junior in EngineerIng at NC State. Purchased for $442,000, the bank appraisal earlier this year was for $2,400,000. Buy a Park large enough to afford onsite management so you are not purchasing yourself a job. Much to learn, but it’s worth it.
I do want to disclose that I am a licensed Real Estate Broker in North Carolina, but I use my license solely for my personal investments.
I am by no means rich but at 35 with approximately 400k in net worth I am happy. I dont require much so its just a safety net for the futuee in my eyes.
About $3700000, less whatever Trump loses for me tomorrow. Always bought private label at the grocery.
bingo.. i am 33 with ~350k (would be closer to 400k without stock crash of past 3 months) which is not bad for my age.
Here’s to hoping you hit $1MM by 40! Cheers!
For Roy-
Just a suggestion. Not sure what your living expenses are per year, but let’s say 100k. Why not do a 5 year tiered CD ladder of 500k? So every year you have a CD expire with 100k (that’s your living expense for the year). Put the rest in the market. If the market goes up, sell enough to fund another 100k for your ladder. If there is a downturn, skip buying a CD that year, then you still have a few years to make it up before you CD ladder money runs out. With rates going up, at least you can earn something in a CD again. Just my two cents.
That’s good advice.
“What if” scenario….. should have about 2.5 mil when I retire at 60. If I leave 2 mil in stocks and the other 500 k in a money market I can have 200 emergency fund and 300 k for an income base. I have $200,000 worth of mutual funds in an IRA that produce an average of $10,000 in capital gains every year for the past 10 years. It stands to reason that this would be about an average of $200,000 in capital gains for $2 mil. If I add this to the $300,000 income base every year. I should have a decent money market account in which to withdrawal from. Yes, I know there will be years that the market tanks and I won’t have any or just small capital gains, but in the long haul it should be pretty nice. Also, the mutual funds in my IRA will continue to gain worth at about 10%!! Is this a sound scenario?
This is exactly where i am and almost exactly how i am going to do it as well….
28-year-old from Tennessee. My wife and I have a net worth of $329,000. While that’s not impressive in the grand scheme of things, we’re only 5-6 years into our careers. We paid off our student loans at 23, paid cash for a car at 25, and paid-off our primary residence at 26. Living debt free has allowed us to take 3 really good vacations a year. Focusing on really saving some money over the next 15-20 years and calling it quits around 50.
I can only imagine that you both must be in some form of medical occupations because your stats place you in the top 5% of the 27-29 age group. Of course, that’s based on the 2016 data this calculator uses. Also, a company that allows young/new employees to take 3 vacations per year must be very rare indeed.
Our net worth is 1.5 million (50, 43 yrs old). 1 salary. 1 million life insurance policy, 1 year emergency fund. One child, small 910 sf home, one modest car (many bicycles) and we employ all available and reasonable resources to keep our operating expenses down. Good tax planning, PV Solar, Thermal Solar, house insulation and air sealing, picking up discarded wood for woodstove, lots of cycling to work, fixing the Saab ourselves, walking, public transportation when possible, DIY carpentry, plumbing, electrical, cooking at home together as a family, no cable TV, older mobile phones.. and anything DIY that allows us to save. It’s taken discipline, but we don’t feel we miss out on anything. Most of what we want to do doesn’t involve luxury, which is where most folks get in trouble. We try to live simply, with modesty and humility.
Just A beat up old truck driver. Got divorced 20 years ago started out with pretty much nothing. Manage to save over 700,000 mainly by investing and living on less than I make. Paid cash from my house and cars. Completely debt-free for the last 15 or more years. 100% invested almost all the time. I know it’s going to drop sometime but hopefully they won’t Cut the dividends. Keep it in companies that I believe In and I have faith in to manage their companies so they don’t have to cut the dividends. Should be able to throw off 50,000 a year no problem.
any idea if there’ll be another similar census being done more up to date? A lot has changed since 2016, and I imagine the market being as high as it’s ever been plus inflation that the averages are a lot higher, especially with low unemployment and high highering of younger people in tech jobs. could be wrong but I don’t know how much to adjust.
I can get updated information on income from the American Community Survey, but it doesn’t have enough data for net worth unfortunately.
Shouldn’t we be entering our 2016 net worth to compare to the reported values from the federal survey in 2016?
Good morning.
I love this calculator. It’s a big help. However, I’m concerned it may be becoming stale. You are using data from 2016. Do you have any later data set that you can use? Thanks.
Also the Feds conduct this survey every 3 years:
“Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances”
It was last conducted in 2016. I guess this year will be the latest, if it isn’t a;ready published.
The survey was conducted March through December of 2019. It will be published in late 2020.
Would love to see the data separated by region
Can you include your teeth in net worth total?
You absolutely should. And floss at least twice a day.
I am a single 40 year old with a net worth of over $1.2 million of strictly cash and securities (individual stocks and index funds). I have zero debt. I am a renter for a few reasons to include real estate is incredibly expensive in the NYC area and I am newer to the area so I need more time to consider where exactly I would purchase. I don’t own a car because it is unnecessary in a city. I also wish that I could find a wife which would make purchasing a house super easy if I had the opportunity to move to the suburbs to start a family. My father sparked my interest in investing at a young age. I have been an aggressive saver and have invested in the stock market with great results. I grew up in a humble family and I earned every dollar that I have accumulated.
Slight typo under Net Worth Percentile Stats: “Your income of $x” should be “Your net worth”
Thank you! Fixed it.
I’m 26 with a net worth over $500,000. I have three businesses and my goal is to be a millionaire before I hit 30. I want to use what I create to empower and improve people’s lives. I want people to be first spiritually rich.
And?
It’s 2024. Did you hit 1 million?
“Percentiles show the ranking of a particular net worth result. So a 90% (ninetieth percentile) means that out 100 people the household ranked 90th would have a net worth of around $26,190.”
You sure you don’t mean “So a 10%…”?
You’re right. Fixed it!
Does this data group together the married people as one entity? And if so, is there a way to separate them out to get a clearer picture of where someone would stand as an individual?
The single adult households have a strong bias towards lower net worth, because they tend to have lower incomes or are younger. I’ll see if I can add a filter though, but it’s like very very different.
Any idea when the 2019 data will be out?
Should be in October but with everything going on in the world I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a little bit later.
Makes sense, I’m looking forward to it!
Its time for new dataaaaaaa!!!!
https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/scf20.pdf
I’ve updated the income and net worth dashboards. 😄
You should change the text, it says it’s still from 2016
Thanks I’ll go thru and update all the dates.
dammn… you are quick!
Thanks. I feel better… 1) for the update & 2) coz i went up the percentiles! 😀
cheers!
fyi, new scf is out
Not sure if it’s too late now, but is it possible for you to add an “archived” link for 2016 data on this website?
It would be nice to compare 2019 data to 2016 data
Thanks
I’ll add it to the list of enhancements. It’ll probably take some time to set up though. Thanks for the suggestion!
No problem, I’ll be looking forward to it!
Is there a glitch with the parts with the similar households data ? The numbers don’t update and not close to the networth amount that is entered.
It looks like it was working for me today, but I might have missed something. It a certain graph or block that isn’t working?
The chart titled “Comparisons of Net Worth, Assets, and Debt components of similar households versus median households” does not return values for middle column “Similar Households” that make sense. With old data, the first row of that chart always roughly was close to the Net worth amount the user entered. With 2019 data, this is not the case.
Got it, I do see some of what you’re describing with some of the ages. I’ll try adjusting the way it picks comparison samples and see if it helps over the weekend.
Edit 10/11/20: Made some updates to limit outliers.
Thanks for updating the calculator to the latest data published by the “Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances”.
Thanks for all your work accumulating this data. Great tool for so many to look at. Thank you so much for the updates. Love this stuff.
Spouse and I, age 74. Live in the Midwest. $50K total SS. Dividend income from mix of traditional and Roth IRA = $27000. Total income therefore, approximately $75K.
Fixed expenses are at around $30K. Live in a spacious 1800 ft condo with monthly fee and taxes @$650.
So: annual “surplus” of maybe $40K+. I go over and over the numbers as if to say “Can’t be”. But it is. I guess the life lesson is: some of us don’t require millions; live in a cost-effective area of the U.S.; at current appreciation conservatively in vested, I expect to leave most of our $1M savings to our daughter. Hey — we never really know. But it’s fun pondering the What ifs.
GLTA
Very well done. I’d been looking forward to the update based on 2019 data. Here is it. Great job.
If I could make one suggestion, in the Distribution of Net Worth by Households bar chart (or elsewhere, it doesn’t really matter), where the 50th, 90th, etc. percentiles are spelled out, could you list the percentile at which wealth is
$0, i.e. no longer negative household wealth.
Thanks.
30 y/o with a Net Worth of $470,000 including primary res equity. According to the data, that puts me in the top 4% of people my age.
I’d consider myself a somewhat generous person who comes from humble beginnings. I say that to say, I don’t feel like I’m in the top 4%. I mean I save a lot of money, but mostly because I make a ton of sacrifices. Any one else feel that way?
FYI I have corrected an error on the occupation level income percentiles where the graphs were not properly sorted.
Thank you anonymous user who caught that issue! I recently upgraded the server, and the behavior on the new database was a little bit different.
Golf analogy – Just hit is down the middle
Blessed 55 year old – retired -$2M net worth – 35 years – same wife, same employer, same house, & same God. It took a lot of work, night school, sacrifice, working on the house vacations, …. But, well worth it, Now we get to help watch grandkids, travel some, help others, …
Be boring ! The new house, wife, job, or other shiny thing is rarely better
Can you provide any more statistics on race and gender? I’m a 42yo AA male in Washington DC and find that my wealth data is a bit harder to contextualize given the systemic predisposition of wealth and race in the US.
Good question, I think I can work to add some additional high level charts to add some data around those topics. There are some challenges to separating the data on that level mostly with there being less data available for the smaller slices for each potential age / race / gender split.
I am certain that this calculation is based on Net Worth. Meaning what asset less liabilities that you have today. Nothing that someone guarantees you in the future is guaranteed. Its current assets less liabilities that determine Net Worth.
I’m not retiring ever, as a marketing and sales consultant serving international clients I work off a laptop and mobile phone. I’m 59 and I was fortunate through work to travel and live in Europe and Asia in luxury so I have less desire to travel now. I’ve lost lots of money with reckless investments but still command $1.8 m net worth with the goal of doubling that by 70. If I’m healthy and fortunate enough to pay more taxes I look forward to taking on projects well into my 70s. Peace and love to all
I’m 30 and my wife is 31; net worth of $541,000. We’ve never “killed it” from an income perspective, but we’ve always been diligent in saving/investing and we’ve always been aware of our spending. Combined income has been around $110k, annual spending around $35k. Planning to continue down this path for another 10 years while our investments compound. Hoping to hit $2MM and FIRE by 42.
How often is this updated?
The base data is updated once every 3 years from the Survey of Consumer Finances by the Federal Reserve https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm
The visualizations, graphs and tables may be changed slightly for different views of that data when I update the page.
Only started making any real money after the PhD at 34 years old. Got a break with a few jobs and able to amass $4,800,000 after taxes and still am working at a job I like; pure chemical plant engineering, troubleshooting and optimization. I live in Borger, TX, not much to do but I am pretty much a house body. I plan to work till I’m 70 and considering that my house is paid off, will get the maximum SSI, I should hit $7000000 in eight years working at a job I like, and poor me will get about $4,350/mo which is currently the maximum SSI. Then I have no clue what to do next. My method I used was to try to save 50% of my income, pay off the house, and aggressively invest is quality financial assets. When the money goes in, it stays in. Doesn’t come out unless I am moving and having two house outright paid off. Then we I sell the house I am moving from I put back the money that borrowed from myself. Read Benjamin Graham’s book; The Intelligent Investor a couple of times – teaches value investing and changed my way of investing in a very, very positive direction. Not from a standpoint of things like a chart breakout, but instead buying something valuable that you hang on to for years, watching the dividend payouts increase over the years. Kind of boring but is seems to have worked of me. It’s Buffet’ favorite book. My favorite buffet is Chinese, if it’s fresh. paul
Hello. When does the 2022 data get published? Please provide a month if you’re able. Thanks!
The SFC is done every 3 years. One was conducted in 2022. The data is expected to be available in late 2023.
I’m 54 and have a NW of $3.7Million and NO none of that was given to me, I earned it all! Started mowing lawns and shoveling neighbors snow for $ at age 8. Worked as a caddie age 12-22 and then professional career following college after that (which I paid for myself). Grew up with nothing, in fact had to pay for my own clothes and things starting at age 13 because my Dad had custody of me and my sis from 1971 onwards, mom was MIA. Dad just a lower income manufacturing job. Just wanted to say that, because I hate the commenters who think it was given to me or I’m some sort of trust fund baby. Fact is I’ve earned a great living working my a$$ off, living well below my means and debt free since my early thirties. Like Paul above, Money goes in, doesn’t come out. I have always focused on Monthly Cash Flow and saving as much as I could of what I’ve earned, then off to the next month spending well less than I earned.
Of that $3.7Million NW $800K is my house which is paid off, in fact I paid off my first house when I was 31 yo and never took a dime of equity, always put it back in for the next house and add some extra to pay cash on three moves. Haven’t paid a dime in interest in over 20 years. Saved and lived well below my means, well I guess because growing up I never had money, got to go on vacations, etc. Its normal for me to live a very simple life although I like nice things too, I’m not that off the rails. lol
Now what do I do?….I love to work and I like my job (well save the dumb politics and bad leadership decisions). I guess I should retire, but not sure how happy I’ll be….maybe I can cut back and have more experiences. Wifie and I not getting along for years, that sucks and I guess the reason I like to work and stay busy. I’m so jealous of those who have an awesome relationship and money to spend with someone they want to be on trips with, adventures or just the simple dinner out.
Thanks for the info.
Some Dude, your situation is likely more common than you think. I’m in a similar situation, but I’m self employed, so that gives me a lot more flexibility. This is what I’m doing, maybe it will help you.
First, I dine out more. Not just to enjoy different food than I cook, but to support the economy. That is a general theme I try to practice. The other is to me a social person, helping other people enjoy the activities that I enjoy. Specifically, snow and water sports. I bought a boat and this forces me to get people on board. On the snow, I buy 2 full season passes, which forces me to include other people and I travel to distance resorts.
I also share what I have learned that has contributed to my NW and security. Additionally, I have intentionally reduced my aggressiveness to accumulate more wealth. I suggest to other people to not make more money, unless you have a reason/purpose for that money. I try to follow my own good advice.
At our age, money is meant to be enjoyed. Otherwise, why did we sacrifice so much?!?!?!
Rick V great post, thank you for that. Over the past year since I wrote my original post I’ve gotten my act together and working hard to re establish the connection with my wife. We’ve also come to terms there are things I’m going to do, concerts, travel to places she’s not interested in which I plan to do with my friends. Same for her on her things…but also common ground on things we will do together.
And getting to the point of ending the rat race in a high pressure job, take some time off and just work a part time gig self employed to make some pocket money along with spending the rest. Like you said, why sacrifice and not spend the money and enjoy life. Also using the money to help the my kids, immediate family, friends or those less fortunate.
The new Survey of Consumer Finances is forthcoming:
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/other20220225a.htm
New data out. Can you update?
Just updated! Enjoy!
Yes please update new SCF data! Great site!
Thanks for updating your site with the latest federal “Survey of Consumer Finances” data!
Quick(?) question. How could the real median household net worth have “surged” 37% over the past 3 years? My theory is that more young people are staying with mom and dad, causing some households’ net worth to inflate. The 37% assertion is in the actual SCF report. We’ve heard a lot about offspring “failing to launch” and live completely independent lives from parents over the past 3 years. Could this be the case? Maybe I’ll look deeper into the actual report for an answer. The report itself recognized the surge as highly unusual.
I’m not entirely sure the calculator is producing the correct percentiles. I could easily be wrong about this.
I was wrong about the calculator’s correctness. I believe it’s correct. I was fooled by the 37% surge over the 3-year subject period. That surge took me off guard. I wondered what role parenting and elder care might have played in that 37% surge.
But another question/request comes to mind. This would be easy for Shnugi to do. Could you please do the exact same “Net Worth Percentile Calculator by Age”, but do it on a “per capita in the household” basis?
In other words, right next to the “Net Worth” input slot, provide a slot asking for, “Number of People in Your Household”. The output would then provide “Per Capita Net Worth Percentile Calculator by Age” and compare it to all households. It would help answer the question, “How many people is the household net worth supporting and how does it compare to all households on a percentile basis?”
A “Net Worth” supporting 2 people in a household is a different way of life from a “Net Worth” supporting 5 people in a household, where the 5 people consist of, say, 2 working parents, 2 working (but non-independent) children, and one senior that’s a care-receiver on social security.
Thanks in advance if you decide to do it! I think it could benefit your visitors.
If you look up the total number of adults in the US with an earned income (work, soc security, investments) and divide it by the number of US households, it’s something like 230 million adults divided by 130 million households. So for me as a single guy, I just take the household net worth and divide by 1.8 to adjust the percentile to a single person. You can also take a $200,000 net worth for a single person and compare it to a $360,000 household in the percentiles to get your ranking. The sample data the site provides below generally supports the 1.8 adults/household anyway.
Thanks. I’ll look into your method.
But then again…shouldn’t you divide 330,000,000 by 130,000,000 to get people per household? That would be 2.54 people per household. The household’s income would have to cover the needs of those people.
According to ArcGIS Online, in 2022 there were 2.6 people per household. When you divide the Shnugi percentile distribution household count data by 2.6, you get a really good feel for how much strain is placed on a household’s net worth as the number of household members increases. Also, if your household is less than 2.6, you really get a boost in the percentiles…for example, if your household size is 2 instead of 2.6.
Thanks for the 2022 update! I am skeptical of the high percentiles for younger ages though. For example, this says 2% of people age 25-30 have net worth over $1 million. That’s much higher than previous versions, and seemingly impossible when compared to what the top 1% of incomes are for that age range.
Curious if you have any thoughts on that. But regardless, I appreciate this site and it’s a great resource!
Why is $180k at 93% for 26 year olds, but only at 70% for 27 year olds? Using your calculator, it takes $300k to reach 90% for 27 year olds.
Can you please explain why the large gap? Is it because more people get married, and they count as 1 household?
Here’s a precise listing of “Household Net Worth” percentiles, but it doesn’t break them down by age like Shnugi does and it doesn’t provide other factoids like Shnugi does: https://dqydj.com/net-worth-percentiles/
Using Shnugi’s data and using data from Wikipedia about the top 25 richest Americas, I calculated that the top 25 richest Americans have a collective net worth equal to that of the bottom 45% of Americans. It’s roughly $2 trillion. Using the same data sets, I calculated that the 3 richest Americans (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Larry Ellison) collectively have the same net worth as the bottom 35% of Americans. It’s roughly $570 billion. The population of the USA is approximately 336,000,000 people. It would take roughly 117,600,000 working class Americans to “balance the scale” against the 3 richest Americans. What a revealing factoid! Feel free to check my assertions and/or provide greater accuracy/precision to my assertions.
Is it possible the SCF sample population is not an accurate representation of the US as a whole?
What is included in the “Other Assets” category for net worth? Is this secondary homes, rental properties and the value of private businesses owned by the households?
I had the same question! What is “other assets”? It says Similar households to me has 900k in investments, but another 900 in “other”. What is that? What am I supposed to own… :/ Is that 7 cybertrucks? Art? Gold in the back yard?
I’m curious if the data exists to calculate net worth percentiles for each U.S. state?
Something about the SCF/calculator has never sat right with me. That nagging feeling that the math does not add up.
Most reports indicate around 25% of Americans have less than $1000 in savings. Combine that with the fact that homeownership rate in America is currently at 65%(FRED) it’s safe to assume nearly 30% of Americans have no true assets. Are these people represented in the sample? If not, are there any measures to offset this variance in the data?
For example if I enter $1000 into the NW calculator it states I am at the bottom 11.1%. The actual percentile must be higher. Does it mean I am in the bottom 11% of Americans who are actually represented in this survey?
If so, my adjustment would look like this below
(11.1%(my standing) x 70%(percentage of Americans with a positive net worth of over $1000) + 30%(percentage of Americans with NW less than $1000)=37.7% percentile.
Can anybody provide some insight? Am I missing something?