Average Net Worth of Americans by Age, Education, and Race

The average net worth of an American is roughly $122,000 -- but looking at the net worth of Americans by age, educational attainment, and race reveals a more complicated picture. 

That’s according to data collected in 2019 and published in 2020 by the Federal Reserve. This is the most recent data available. 

Unsurprisingly, older Americans tend to have higher net worths -- also known simply as "wealth" -- than younger Americans. Those with a college degree also have significantly higher net worths than those without one. 

Net worth is also heavily stratified by race. The average net worth of white Americans is nearly eight times higher than the median net worth of Black Americans and about five times higher than that of Hispanic Americans. 

Net worth is the value of assets you control minus your liabilities. The former includes anything that can be turned into cash, like your house, other real estate, car, investments, and bank accounts. The latter includes outstanding obligations, such as loans, mortgages, and credit card debt. 

Understanding your wealth and how it compares to the average net worth can provide a clearer picture of your financial wellbeing and what areas may benefit from improvement. It can also be a big help when you're figuring out how much money you need to retire.

Key findings

• The median net worth of Americans in 2019 was $121,760. 
• In 2019, the median net worth of Americans under 35 years old was $14,000. The median net worth of Americans between 65 and 74 years old was about 19 times higher at $266,070. 
• In 2019, the median net worth of Americans with a college degree was $308,800. The median net worth of Americans with a high school diploma was $73,890. 
• In 2019, the median net worth of white Americans was $189,100. The median net worth of Black Americans was $24,100 and the median net worth of Hispanic Americans was $36,050.

The average American's net worth: $121,760

The median net worth of Americans in 2019 was $121,760, according to the Federal Reserve. 

That’s a $30,000 increase since 2010 but still below the median wealth recorded in 2007, 2004, and 2001 -- all before the 2008 recession.

Data source: Federal Reserve (2020). Includes all years for which data is available.

Median net worth by age

In 2019, the median net worth of Americans under 35 years old was $14,000, while the median net worth of Americans aged 65 to 74 was $266,070. 

In other words, Americans at retirement age had a median wealth 19 times that of those in the under-35 age group. 

The median American net worth picks up after age 35. Americans between 35 and 44 years old had a median net worth of $91,110, six-and-a-half times that of those under 35. 

The gap in net worth between Americans in their late 40s and early 50s and those in their late 50s and early 60s is smaller.

Americans aged 45 to 54 had a median net worth of $168,800, and Americans aged 55 to 64 had a median net worth of $213,150. 

Americans aged 65 to 74 had the highest median net worth, $266,070. Net worth drops off slightly for Americans 75 and older, whose median net worth was $254,900, as they dip into retirement savings.

Data source: Federal Reserve (2020).

Median net worth by education

In 2019, the median net worth of Americans with a college degree was $308,800. Meanwhile, the median net worth of Americans with a high school diploma was $73,890, about a quarter of the net worth of those with a college degree. 

Americans with no high school diploma had a median net worth of $20,780.

Data source: Federal Reserve (2020).

As the graph above shows, the median wealth of Americans without a college degree has recovered more slowly since the 2008 recession than the median net worth of those with a college degree.

Median net worth by race

In 2019, the median net worth of white Americans was $189,100. The median net worth of Black Americans and Hispanic Americans was less than a fifth of that. 

The median net worth of Black Americans in 2019 was $24,100, and the median wealth of Hispanic Americans was $36,050.

These figures parallel those of average household income and asset ownership -- white households earn more and are more likely to own a home or other valuable asset than Black and Hispanic Americans.

Data source: Federal Reserve (2020).

Shown by the graph above, the median net worth of white Americans remains below its 2007 level, while the median net worth of Black Americans has nearly recovered, and the median net worth of Hispanic Americans has exceeded its 2007 value. 

How to increase your net worth

Net worth isn’t the only way to judge financial wellbeing, but taking steps to increase your wealth can be beneficial. The more personal capital you have available, the better off you'll be.

Here are a couple of ways you can start to boost your net worth:

• Focus on paying off debt: Personal debt can weigh heavily on your net worth and delay other steps that can raise your net worth, like investing. The most important steps toward paying off debt are coming up with a plan and sticking to it. The two most popular ways to pay off debt are the avalanche method and the snowball method. 
• Raise your income: Learning a new skill or starting a side hustle are ways to boost your income, which helps you pay off debt, save, and invest. Increasing your monthly income is a great way to increase your household net worth and it can boost your Social Security payment in retirement.
• Open a retirement account: Retirement savings are a great way to effectively boost your wealth without accruing a large tax burden. 401(k)s, Roth IRAs, and other retirement accounts can help increase your wealth significantly over the course of a couple decades.
• Start investing: Once you’ve built up an emergency fund in your savings account, investing is the next step to growing your wealth. Investing is a reliable way to build wealth over time, but it’s important to stay patient and hold your investments even through market drops and volatility.

Sources

• Federal Reserve (2020). "Survey of Consumer Finances."