The Federal Reserve conducts the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) every three years. The report provides a snapshot of U.S. household finances, measuring income, assets and debt across demographic categories.
The latest SCF will be conducted in 2022 and released in 2023. The median is a measure of the average. It refers to the middle value of the data set, meaning half the numbers are larger and half are smaller. Therefore, anyone with a net worth over $192,700 is in the top 50% of American households.
However, it makes more sense for individuals to compare themselves to their peers. Time is one of the most important variables when it comes to building wealth. Read on for a breakdown of U.S. median net worth by age, and learn about five strategies to make money in 2025 and beyond.
Image source: Getty Images.
By definition, net worth is assets minus liabilities. Some of the most common assets are bank accounts, retirement accounts, and brokerage accounts. Some of the most common liabilities are credit card debt, mortgages, and car loans. The chart below shows the median U.S. household net worth based on the age of the reference person.
age group
Median net worth
18-34 days
$39,040
35-44
$135,300
45-54
$246,700
55-64
$364,270
65-74
$410,000
75+
$334,700
all families
$192,700
Source: Federal Reserve’s 2022 Consumer Finance Survey. Note: Reference persons refer to men in opposite-sex couples and older people in same-sex couples.
As shown above, the median net worth of U.S. households in the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances was $192,700. This means that half of the households have higher net worth, while the other half have lower net worth. The same applies to net worth shown for a specific age group.
The first three steps to increasing your net worth are creating a budget, tracking your spending, and paying off high-interest debt. Financial advisors often recommend adopting a 50-30-20 budgeting framework, which divides after-tax income into three spending categories:
50% for essential purchases such as food, medical care, housing and utilities
30% is spent on discretionary purchases such as travel, hobbies, and restaurants
20% put aside for retirement savings
It makes sense to pay off high-interest debt as quickly as possible. Doing so should take precedence over discretionary purchases and retirement savings. Credit cards are the most common source, but any loan that charges an interest rate of 8% or higher is high-interest debt.
Once debt is paid off, 20% of your income should be allocated to savings. The five options listed below are great ways to build wealth, and several of them require very little effort.
1. Open a health savings account: Individuals enrolled in high-deductible health plans can contribute pre-tax funds into a health savings account (HSA). These savings, along with interest or investment income earned on the principal, are not taxed upon withdrawal as long as they are used for qualified medical expenses such as copays, prescription drugs and dental care. This means an HSA can increase your net worth by reducing taxable income and providing tax-free capital gains.
2. Open a high-yield savings account: According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the national average interest rate on savings accounts is 0.42% annual percentage rate (APY). However, some financial institutions offer high-yield savings accounts that pay higher fees. For example, apple Savings (for consumers with an Apple Card) currently pays 3.9% APR with no minimum account balance or monthly maintenance fee. At this rate, $1,000 will earn approximately $39 in interest per year.
3. Build an emergency fund: Experts generally recommend building an emergency fund that can cover three to six months of expenses. This number varies slightly depending on the source, but it’s important to keep cash aside for unexpected events. This advice will not directly increase your net worth, but it may prevent you from selling stocks or taking on credit card debt in response to a challenging financial situation. Bonus Tip: Keep emergency funds in a high-yield savings account.
4. Buy and hold an S&P 500 index fund: this S&P 500 Index(SNPINDEX:^GSPC) It is the leader of the U.S. stock market. It tracks the performance of 500 major companies critical to the U.S. economy, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazonand NVIDIA. S&P 500 Index Funds are a convenient way for investors to own shares of the world’s 500 most influential companies.
Importantly, few professional fund managers have outperformed the S&P 500 — just 4% over the past five years — making it a smart choice for most retail investors. While there’s no guarantee that an S&P 500 index fund will increase your net worth in 2025, the index has historically been a profitable investment every 20 years, returning 244% over the past 10 years.
5. Buy and hold individual stocks: The U.S. stock market has long been one of the best places to accumulate wealth. Purchasing stocks requires more work than the other options listed here, and there is no guarantee that owning stocks will increase your net worth. But for investors willing to do their research, owning quality stocks offers the chance to earn market-beating returns.
Finally, I would like to offer one last piece of advice: Building wealth takes time. Of course, some people are lucky and make a lot of money very quickly. But this is the exception, not the rule. For most people, patience and careful decisions are the secret to building wealth.
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John Mackey is the former CEO of Amazon subsidiary Whole Foods Market and a board member of The Motley Fool. Trevor Jennewine works at Amazon and Nvidia. The Motley Fool owns and recommends Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: Long January 2026 Microsoft calls at $395 and short January 2026 Microsoft calls at $405. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Here’s the average net worth by age and 5 ways to make money in 2025 and beyond Originally published by The Motley Fool
