Fed Survey: Americans 75 and Older Are the Wealthiest, While One in Five Households Is Behind on Debt

The 18 million U.S. households led by someone 75 or older have the highest median net worth of any age group, according to the Federal Reserve's new Survey of Consumer Finances. Their median net worth was $504,000 in 2025. The survey, published every three years, measures wealth, income and liabilities such as credit card debt and student loans. All figures are adjusted for inflation.

Households headed by someone 75 or older also recorded the largest increase in median net worth of any age group and the biggest income gains. Their median annual income rose 24% since 2022 to $67,000. The Fed said retirement assets likely drove the improvement. Households headed by 65- to 74-year-olds saw wealth grow 37% between 2022 and 2025. Those households account for about 13.4% of U.S. families, the smallest age group. Families under 35 are the largest, at about one in five households.

The gains reflect a strong stock market. The S&P 500 rose about 78% between the end of 2022 and the end of 2025, the period the Fed measured. Separately, Fidelity reported a record 769,000 401(k) accounts with at least $1 million in the second quarter, helped by the bull market and record average employee contribution rates. At the top, the median net worth of the richest one-tenth of families jumped 31% to $3.6 million from 2022 to 2025.

The same survey shows financial strain for many others. In 2025, about 20% of U.S. households were behind on debt repayments, including home loans, credit cards, payday loans and other credit, a 7-percentage-point jump since 2022. "Families were more likely to be behind on their financial obligations than at any point since the 2010 survey," the Fed said. About one in 12 families spends roughly 40% or more of income on debt payments, the highest share in at least 12 years.

Younger Americans fell behind. Typical households headed by someone under 35 saw median net worth plunge 23% from 2022 to 2025, to $33,000. The Fed said that decline was driven chiefly by a drop in business equity gains compared with the previous three years. Older Americans are not free of risk either: Census Bureau data show nearly 10% of Americans 65 and older lived below the poverty line as of 2025, up from roughly 9% a decade ago.

The data stop at 2025, so they do not capture this year's reacceleration of inflation, which has been driven by soaring energy costs tied to the Iran war. Economists polled by FactSet expect September inflation to run at an annual rate of 3.6%. That squeeze lands on households already carrying more debt than at any time in more than a decade, with the midterm elections on Nov. 3.