Every three years the Federal Reserve publishes the most detailed public picture of American household balance sheets. The 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances results, released October 9, 2026, put the median family’s net worth at $215,900. The mean is $1.24 million.
Those two numbers are the first lesson. The mean is about 5.75 times the median, because a small group of very wealthy families pulls the average up. If you compare yourself to the average, you will always feel behind. The median, the family exactly in the middle, is the benchmark that means something.
This piece lays out the medians by age and by income, picks out the three findings that should change what you do next, and gives you a way to turn your own net worth into a decision rather than a mood.
The numbers by age
The full report, Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025, adjusts every dollar figure to 2025 dollars using an inflation index, so the comparison with 2022 is real, not nominal. Here is median and mean net worth by the age of the family’s reference person (Table 2 of the report):
| Age | Median 2022 | Median 2025 | Change | Mean 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $42,700 | $33,000 | -23% | $135,400 |
| 35 to 44 | $148,400 | $155,600 | +5% | $681,900 |
| 45 to 54 | $270,600 | $253,700 | -6% | $1,244,500 |
| 55 to 64 | $398,900 | $411,900 | +3% | $1,878,000 |
| 65 to 74 | $448,600 | $431,300 | -4% | $1,897,600 |
| 75 or older | $367,300 | $504,900 | +37% | $1,962,200 |
All families: median $215,900 (up 2% from $211,100), mean $1,241,500 (up 7%).
Two patterns stand out. Wealth still builds with age, rising more than 2.5 times from the 35 to 44 bracket to the 55 to 64 bracket ($155,600 to $411,900). And the youngest households lost the most ground: the under-35 median fell 23% after inflation, while families 75 and older posted the biggest gain.
The numbers by income
Age is a blunt comparison. Two 40-year-olds with very different paychecks should not hold themselves to the same number. The report also groups families by percentile of usual income:
| Usual income percentile | Median net worth 2025 | Change from 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom 20% | $14,400 | -6% |
| 20th to 40th | $77,100 | -1% |
| 40th to 60th | $188,200 | +8% |
| 60th to 80th | $362,500 | +8% |
| 80th to 90th | $814,600 | 0% |
| Top 10% | $3,669,900 | +31% |
Find your income band first, then your age band, and look at both medians. If you sit above one and below the other, that tells you something useful: a high earner below the income-band median has a savings-rate gap, not an income gap.
Three findings that should change what you do
1. Under 35, the gap is about getting started
Real median income rose 7% between the surveys, from $76,900 to $82,200 (Table 1), yet the youngest households ended up with less net worth. Housing is part of the story: the report’s housing box puts the median home at more than 4.5 times median family income in 2025, and the typical monthly payment at 33% of median income, up from 26% in 2022.
The decision this points to: if you are under 35 and not yet a homeowner, your net worth is mostly what you have invested, so the contribution rate is the main lever. Market returns on a small balance cannot do much yet; contributions can.
2. Only about half of families have a retirement account
According to Table 3, 54.9% of families held a retirement account in 2025 (54.3% in 2022). Among those that did, the median balance was $106,000, up 11%. A broader measure that also counts traditional pensions (Box 2) puts participation at about 65% of families with a reference person 64 or younger.
If you already have a 401(k) or IRA, you are ahead of the roughly 45% of families that have no retirement account at all. The more useful comparison is the balance: Box 2 reports mean retirement savings among IRA and defined contribution holders of $182,400 for ages 35 to 44 and $415,800 for ages 45 to 54. Those are means, so the typical holder has less, but they show how steeply balances climb through the forties.
3. More households are stretched by debt payments
The share of families whose debt payments exceed 40% of their income rose from 6.5% to 8.6%, which the report says is a level last seen in the 2013 survey. The median debtor now spends 15.4% of income on debt payments, up 2 percentage points from 2022. Meanwhile, the share of families holding any debt was about flat at 77%.
That 40% line is the one number in this survey you can check against your own budget tonight.
Run your own numbers
Step 1: net worth. Add everything you own (checking and savings, brokerage, retirement accounts, home value, other property) and subtract everything you owe (mortgage, car loans, student loans, cards).
Step 2: compare to two medians. Use the age table and the income table above.
Step 3: check the payment ratio. Divide total monthly debt payments by gross monthly income.
A worked example, using illustrative figures:
A 38-year-old household earns $6,500 a month before tax. It pays $1,900 on the mortgage, $450 on a car loan and $300 on student loans, which is $2,650 a month in debt payments.
$2,650 / $6,500 = 40.8%.
That household sits in the 8.6% of families above the 40% line, even if its net worth looks fine.
Now say its net worth is $120,000. The median for ages 35 to 44 is $155,600, a gap of $35,600. Putting an extra $500 a month toward savings or debt principal for five years adds $30,000 from contributions alone ($500 x 60 months), before any investment growth. The gap is closable with one change in cash flow, and the payment ratio tells you where that $500 should go first: paying off the car loan ($450 a month) would drop the ratio to 33.8% ($2,200 / $6,500) once it is gone.
What the benchmark can and cannot tell you
A median is a description of other people. It says nothing about whether your own plan is on track for your own goals, your retirement date or your city’s housing costs. Use it as a sanity check once a year, not as a scoreboard.
It is also a snapshot. The survey was taken in 2025, and the report itself notes how much uncertainty families report: a record 37% did not have a good idea of what their income would be the next year.
The takeaway
Compare yourself to the median, never the mean. Look at your income band as well as your age band. Then act on the two numbers you control: your contribution rate, and a debt-payment ratio below 40%. Everything else in this survey is context.
Sources
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Reserve Board releases results of the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances (press release, October 9, 2026): headline median and mean income and net worth, homeownership, debt payment share above 40%.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025: Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (October 2026): Tables 1 to 4 and Boxes 2 and 4; net worth by age and income percentile; retirement account ownership and balances; housing affordability; debt payment ratios; 2025-dollar adjustment.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Consumer Finances (data and documentation): survey methodology and full data tables.
- Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, SCF interactive chart tool: breakdowns by age, income and other characteristics.
The Thousandaire Editorial Team creates practical, evidence-based personal finance content for people building real wealth. We break down investing, retirement, taxes, real estate, and other wealth-building decisions with clear explanations, real numbers, and no hype
