The wealth gap between old and young Americans is now enormous, per the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances.
Median household net worth rises steadily with age in the survey, from just $33,000 for households under 35 to $504,900 for households aged 75 and older.
In between, the median household is worth $155,600 at ages 35 to 44, $253,700 at 45 to 54, $411,900 at 55 to 64 and $431,300 at 65 to 74.
The typical household 75 and older is now worth 15 times as much as one under 35.
Housing and Time Do the Compounding
The survey illustrates a familiar arithmetic.
Older households have had decades to buy homes before the sharp run-up in prices, pay down mortgages and ride long bull markets in stocks and retirement accounts.
Younger households face the other side of that math: higher home prices, higher borrowing costs and a later start on asset ownership.
Because net worth compounds with time in appreciating assets, the gap tends to widen on its own unless younger buyers can get into housing and markets earlier.
A Divide With Policy Stakes
A 15-to-1 gap between the oldest and youngest households carries weight beyond household balance sheets.
It shapes debates over housing supply, student debt, retirement policy and the tax treatment of capital, all of which feed into how younger Americans save and invest.
It also helps explain the surge of younger households into brokerage accounts and higher-risk assets as they look for a faster route onto the asset ladder.
What It Means for Markets
The divide matters most for companies selling to first-time and younger buyers.
Homebuilders D.R. Horton and Lennar depend on entry-level demand that affordability directly constrains, while Robinhood is built around the younger, smaller-account investor the survey describes.
At the index level, the SPY remains the broad gauge of the asset appreciation driving the older cohort's gains.
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