Households led by Americans 75 and older now rank as the richest in the country, new Fed data shows, thanks to retirement assets and stock gains younger families largely missed.
CBS News reported that the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances put median net worth for households headed by someone 75 or older at $504,000 in 2025, the highest of any age group.
That covers about 18 million U.S. households. They make up roughly 13.4% of the nation’s families, the smallest age bracket, yet they sit at the top of the wealth rankings after inflation adjustments built into the Fed report.
The same survey shows why the gap opened. Oldest Americans saw the largest jump in median net worth and the biggest income gains of any group. Median annual income for families headed by someone 75 or older rose 24% since 2022, to $67,000. The Fed said those households likely benefited from growth in their retirement assets.
Households headed by people 65 to 74 were not far behind. Their wealth increased 37% between 2022 and 2025.
The timing lines up with a powerful bull run. The S&P 500 gained about 78% between the end of 2022 and 2025, the window measured by the Fed report. Families holding stocks and retirement accounts captured that rise.
Fidelity Investments saw the result in its own books. The number of 401(k) plan accounts it managed with at least $1 million surged to a record 769,000 in the second quarter, lifted by the market and record average employee contribution rates.
The richest slice of America pulled further ahead. Median net worth for the richest one-tenth of American families rose 31% to $3.6 million from 2022 to 2025.
Ownership of productive assets paid off. Households that had already built retirement balances and equity positions watched those holdings compound while the index climbed. The Fed’s own framing points straight at retirement-asset growth for the oldest group.
The picture flipped for families just starting out. Typical households headed by someone younger than 35 saw median net worth plunge 23% between 2022 and 2025, to $33,000. The decline came chiefly from a drop in business equity gains.
Those under-35 households form about one in five U.S. families, the largest age group, yet their balance sheets moved the wrong direction while older cohorts advanced. The survey does not invent reasons beyond the business-equity drop. It simply records the result: less wealth on paper for the youngest heads of household at the exact moment markets were rewarding long-held positions.
That contrast is the core of the new data. Time in the market and years of contribution produced higher medians at the top of the age ladder. Shorter runway and weaker business equity left the bottom of the ladder lighter.
Wealth gains for some did not erase pressure for many. In 2025 about 20% of U.S. households were behind on debt repayments, home loans, credit cards, payday loans and other credit. That is a 7-percentage-point jump since 2022.
The Federal Reserve put the strain in plain language:
"Families were more likely to be behind on their financial obligations than at any point since the 2010 survey."
About one in 12 families spent roughly 40% or more of their incomes on repaying debt, the highest share in at least 12 years. CBS News noted the rise may reflect years of above-normal inflation since the pandemic. The survey itself does not capture the later reacceleration of price increases tied to soaring energy costs.
Inflation that runs hot for years eats cash flow. Families that must service mortgages, cards, and other loans feel it first. The Fed numbers show delinquency risk climbing even as asset prices rose for households that already owned stocks and retirement accounts.
High median net worth for the 75-and-older group does not mean every senior is secure. Census Bureau data cited in the same reporting show that as of 2025 nearly 10% of Americans aged 65 and older lived below the poverty line, up from roughly 9% a decade earlier.
Medians can rise while a share of the same age band still struggles. The Fed survey and the Census figures sit side by side: strong balance-sheet gains for many older households, and a modest increase in the poverty rate for the broader 65-plus population.
All the Survey of Consumer Finances figures discussed here are adjusted for inflation. The Fed runs the study every three years to measure wealth, income, and liabilities across U.S. families. The 2025 release is the latest snapshot.
Eighteen million households headed by someone 75 or older now hold the highest median net worth recorded in the survey’s age breakdowns. Their income grew fastest. Neighbors just a decade younger also posted large wealth gains. The top tenth of families overall saw six-figure jumps into the millions. A roaring stock market and retirement-account balances explain much of that movement.
At the same time, the largest age group, households under 35, watched median net worth fall by nearly a quarter, driven by weaker business equity. One-fifth of all households fell behind on debts. One in twelve devoted a crushing share of income to repayment. A larger fraction of seniors lived in poverty than ten years earlier.
The data do not require a speech. Households that held assets through the post-2022 rally pulled ahead. Households without that cushion, or with heavier debt service after years of high inflation, did not. Patience, contribution rates, and ownership of stocks and retirement accounts separated the winners from the rest.
Markets still reward people who stay invested and keep adding to the pile. Policy that fuels long stretches of inflation makes the climb steeper for everyone else.
