Sometimes the key to building wealth is just sticking around, new Federal Reserve data suggests.
The 18 million U.S. households headed by someone 75 or older have the highest median net worth of any age group, according to the Fed’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances. Americans in that demographic had a median net worth of $504,000 in 2025, according to the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances.
The report assesses U.S. families’ financial health, measuring wealth, income and liabilities such as credit card debt and student loans. All figures in the report are adjusted for inflation.
Families headed by someone 75 or older recorded both the largest increase in median net worth of any age group and the biggest income gains, with their median annual income rising 24% since 2022 to $67,000. The oldest Americans likely benefited from growth in their retirement assets, the Fed said.
Between 2022 and 2025, households headed by 65- to 74-year-olds saw their wealth increase by 37%.
The findings underscore how robust stock market gains over the last three years have boosted the wealth of many Americans. The S&P 500 gained about 78% between the end of 2022 and 2025, the period measured by the Federal Reserve’s report.
The number of 401(k) plan accounts managed by Fidelity Investments with at least $1 million surged to a record 769,000 in the second quarter, lifted by a bullish stock market and by record average employee contribution rates.
Meanwhile, the median net worth of the richest one-tenth of American families soared 31% to $3.6 million from 2022 to 2025, the Fed survey found.
Households headed by someone over 75 account for about 13.4% of the nation’s families, making it the smallest U.S. age group. Families led by people under 35 are the largest, accounting for about one in five households, according to the Fed.
While the oldest and richest Americans enjoyed significant wealth gains, the report also showed that the financial outlook has weakened for millions of people in recent years. In 2025, about 20% of U.S. households were behind on their debt repayments, including home loans, credit cards, payday loans and other types of credit — a 7-percentage-point jump since 2022, the data show.
The increase may reflect the impact of years of above-normal inflation since the pandemic, although the survey doesn’t capture this year’s reacceleration of price increases sparked by soaring energy costs.
“Families were more likely to be behind on their financial obligations than at any point since the 2010 survey,” the Federal Reserve said of the 2025 data.
About one in 12 families is spending roughly 40% or more of their incomes on repaying debt, the highest share in at least 12 years, the report showed.
As of 2025, nearly 10% of Americans aged 65 and older lived below the poverty line, up from roughly 9% a decade ago, according to Census Bureau data.
Typical households headed by someone younger than 35 saw their median net worth plunge 23% between 2022 and 2025, to $33,000, the Fed found. That decline in wealth for young families was chiefly due to a drop in business equity gains over the previous three years.
