The Blubber

As of the end of 2024, the wealthiest 50% of American households controlled roughly 97.5% of the nation’s total wealth, while the bottom 50% held just 2.5%, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve.

The lower half of households saw a modest increase in their share of national wealth during President Joe Biden’s time in office, up from 2.2%. Collectively, the 66.6 million households in that group held about $4 trillion in net wealth at the end of last year — a gain of $1.25 trillion over the past four years.

Household Wealth by Five Percentile Groups
The top 1% alone accounted for 30.8% of total U.S. wealth, Fed data shows.

During the same timeframe, the ultra-wealthy — the top 0.1%, or around 133,000 households — saw their net wealth grow by more than $6 trillion. Most of those gains stemmed from rising values in corporate equities and mutual fund holdings.

This group now holds about 25% of all U.S. equities, which make up nearly half of their total wealth. Roughly 20% is held in private businesses. For households lower down the ladder, real estate comprises a larger portion of wealth.

How Wealth Groups Hold Assets in America
Higher-wealth households are more heavily invested in equities and private businesses.

The top 0.1% expanded their share of total wealth to a record 13.8% by the end of 2024, up from 13% at the close of 2020. The bottom half’s share had reached a high of 2.7% in mid-2022 — the largest since Fed records began in 1989 — before slipping back to 2.5%.

Meanwhile, households in the 90th to 99th percentile saw their share of total wealth decline by 2.4 percentage points over the past four years.

Distribution of U.S. Household Wealth
Wealth concentration has intensified at the very top since the pandemic.

Much of the wealth growth among the richest households was accompanied by a reduction in debt, particularly mortgage debt among the top 1%. In contrast, households lower on the income scale took on more debt along with their asset gains — including about $800 billion in high-interest consumer debt accrued over the past four years.

From an age perspective, older Americans gained a greater share of national wealth. Households headed by those 70 and older increased their share by 3.8 percentage points, reaching 31.4%. This group now owns 38.3% of corporate equities, up from 32.9% in late 2020.

Much of this shift reflects demographic trends, with Baby Boomers aging into their 70s. Americans born before 1965 now control more than half of the country’s real estate wealth.