Average Net Worth by Age Calculator

Am I rich? You can find out using my net worth percentile calculator to see if you have above average net worth by age.

I’ll also show you the data on what is the average American net worth and why you should only look at average net worth by age.

We’ll also look at whether millionaires are still considered rich today and how much wealth you need to be in the top 1 percent.

Net Worth Percentile Calculator

To use the net worth percentile calculator, select:

1. The age of the head of your household
2. The total net worth of your household
3. Whether you included primary residence in your net worth number

What Is Net Worth?

Net worth is THE number that says how rich you are. Net worth is the amount of wealth you have.

We look at net worth at the household level in the United States. And the best data is published by the Federal Reserve in 2019. (And no, it has not been updated since, if it does, I will let you know).

It makes sense for wealth to be calculated at the household level, as a family, even if you are a family of one (as a single adult).

Net worth equals total assets minus total liabilities.

Your net worth is all the things you own (the assets, from stocks to cash to houses) minus all the things you owe (the liabilities, from credit card debts to auto or student loans to house mortgages).

In the long run, if we want to increase net worth, we need to grow our assets and decrease our liabilities.

To get rich, you should put your money in assets that increase in value over time. Vanguard index funds are great assets. Cash under your matress is not a good asset.

Here’s a list of my favorite vanguard index funds.

How to Calculate Your Net Worth

If you haven’t already done so, calculate your household’s net worth.

For married people, your household’s net worth should be the assets and liabilities of you and your spouse combined.

The best place to calculate your net worth, hands down, is at Personal Capital. Here’s a guide I wrote on how to use Personal Capital.

The question “am I rich?”, though, is not just a question about your wealth. It’s a question of your wealth in relation to other people’s wealth, particularly if those people are also within your age group. The higher your net worth relative to others within your age group, the richer you are.

Once you have your net worth, let’s go figure out what net worth you need to be considered rich.

What is the Average Net Worth?

Why “Average” Is Skewed to the Rich

The average net worth is a bad number to use to answer “how rich am I”.

Why? Because the average net worth is skewed by the very rich.

For example, the average net worth between Jeff Bezos and my family is about 70 billion dollars. Because Jeff Bezos’s net worth is 140 billion dollars and mine, in comparison, really doesn’t matter.

The average net worth between Jeff Bezos and my family tells us nothing about me.

In case you wonder, the average American net worth is about $650,000. This seems pretty high because it’s very skewed by the top 1 percent.

Instead of looking at the average net worth by age, we should really look at the median net worth by age.

Median American Net Worth

The median, unlike average, is literally the middle number. If I have 10 people’s net worth, I can rank them from smallest to largest, and the middle person’s net worth IS the median net worth.

So the middle American’s net worth, or the median net worth, is a very good measurement of how rich an “average” American is.

The median American net worth is about $97,000. This is much lower than the average American net worth of $650,000, right?

But $97,000 is also a much more accurate look at how rich an average American is. All of this is to say – the average American is not that rich. $97,000 won’t get you a house in most places and certainly isn’t enough for retirement.

Average Net Worth by Age

It’s actually also a bit incorrect to look at the median net worth of all people from all age groups.

Why? Because you really can’t compare the net worth of a 60-year-old to that of an 18-year-old.

The 60-year-old spent decades saving up, she is in a different spot compared to the 18-year-old who is just getting started.

So when we talk about the average American net worth, we have to look at the median net worth by age. 

What is the Average Net Worth by Age?

Based on my analysis, the median net worth by age in the United States is below. The table also shows us what the average net worth of the age group 10 years ago (vs. previous decade).

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What does this table show? Well, it shows that the wealth growth is quite dramatic from your 20-30s to your 30-40s (in fact, the median net worth 10x’d during this time). This isn’t surprising given these are our prime earning years when we are at the peak of our careers, we often get married during this time so our net worth from a household level is combined from one person to two people.

It also isn’t surprising that our net worth does not increase as dramatically after 50. For one, our earnings will have peaked. But for two, many of us may have retired, or at least one person in the household may have retired.

The table showed the average net worth of a household between 20-30 years old is only around $5K, or one-tenth of the average net worth of a household between 30-40 years old, or $56K.

Remember: most Americans are income earners (vs. small business owners who don’t make income) and most people’s income peak in their 30s and 40s. This is especially true for women whose earning potential dramatically decreases after having kids or peak earlier than men.

If you are a woman wondering how to achieve FIRE, make sure to read my guide Financial Independence for the Ambitious Woman.

Average American Net Worth

The curves in the chart below are real data on the (median) net worth of American households, for each age group.

I analyzed and grouped the net worth data by age and mapped it to a trend line to show you the average American net worth at every age.

Find your age, look at the chart – are you above or below the trend line for average net worth? (small screens: scroll to the right to see all of the chart).

What if your net worth is a lot lower or higher than the average net worth for your age? Let’s figure out your exact net worth percentile, then.

Net Worth Percentile

Ever wonder, “what percent am I, and what percentile is my net worth?” My analysis reveals the following:

The table below shows to be in the top 5 percent of net worth, you need a net worth of nearly $2.4 million dollars. Whoa, right?

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The top 1 percenter has a net worth of over ten million dollars.

But net worth percentiles, like the top 1 percent or top 10 percent, are useful to know, but really, you want to find out what the top net worth percentiles are for people in your age group.

Net Worth Percentile by Age

Here’s my analysis for net worth percentile by age:

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But if you’re 20 – 30 years old, a million puts you in the top 1 percent, easily.

If you’re 30 – 40 years old, then you’re in the top 5 percent net worth if you have a million dollars.

But for those 60 years old and up, the top 1 percent requires that you have at least 14 million dollars.

If you are still a little bit confused on why you should start saving early based on this data, consider the chart below. The x-axis shows net worth percentile (top 1 percent, etc.) and the y-axis shows the net worth – in logarithmic form.

Each line is an age group:

This chart might take a while to understand. I’ll summarize what it’s showing:

• Most people accumulate wealth between the ages of 20 to 50, then people’s net worth growth slows after 50.
• There is a huge gap between the top 1 percent and everyone else. The y-axis is already on a logarithmic scale but the lines still flared up toward higher percentages.
• Wealth inequality starts young and early. The top 5 percent net worth of someone below 30 is higher than the median net worth of a 50-60-year-old.
• FatFIRE is only possible when you are in the top 5 percent. And because of compound growth, you should aim to achieve a million in net worth as early as possible.

So the average 18 year old net worth is around $5,000. However, the top 1% of those who are 18 have $300,000: these people may have gotten this through inheritance, or they were entrepreneurs.

But by and large, you should assume that the net worth of an 18 year old starts somewhere close to $0 or possibly negative since many have student loans.

We’ve sort of identified that you want to start early.

How do you start early? Well, a milestone marker is when you have a million dollars in net worth.

So how many others have already achieved a million dollars? In other words, how many people are well on a path to FatFIRE?

Let’s find out.

How Many Millionaires in the US?

How many millionaires are there in the United States? And what percentage of Americans are millionaires? 

Across the entire U.S. population, about 18 million American households are millionaires.

Because the U.S. has 128 million households today, this means 14% of the U.S. households are millionaires!

In other words, once you reach a million, you are in the top 15 percentile of net worth in the U.S.

But $1 million does not put you in the top 5% of richest Americans; top five percent in net worth requires $2.4 million dollars.

And of course, having a million dollars in your 30s is totally different from having it in your 60s.

Let’s look at how many millionaires in America for each age group. Millionaires in the U.S. by age is much more interesting.

What Percentage of Americans are Millionaires, by Age?

The net worth percentile of a millionaire by age is shown below. If you are a millionaire in your 20s-30s, you are in the top one percent. But by 60, a millionaire is not even in the top 15% of their age group.

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The table above can also be illustrated in much finer detail by this chart I showed before, but with an extra (black) horizontal line added to show where the net worth percentile crosses the millionaire mark for each age group.

Notice that the distance between each age group is largest going from 20-30 year-olds to 30-40 year-olds, and then progressively shrinks as one gets older.

What does this mean?

It means that the first million dollars are the hardest to earn. It’ll take you maybe decades and a lot of hard work.

But due to compound growth, the more money you have, the faster that money will grow.

This means the earlier you cross the millionaire mark, the faster you’ll be able to FIRE.

Summary: Net Worth by Age

I hope this was a helpful exercise to go through to think about your net worth in relation to the average net worth by age group.

We often talk about the top 1 percent net worth, or how much millionaires are there in the United States, or how much wealth to be in the top 5 percent.

But you have to compare your net worth against those in your age group. Because the older you are, the more money it’s going to take for you to be in the top percentile.

And what if you’ve discovered that you are poor and in the bottom percentile for net worth by age group? And you are on the older side?

It is never too late. (And I’m serious!)

You have compound growth slightly going against you, but with the right habits, the right choices, you can do a lot to correct course.

What’s Next?

Investing during a recession or stock market crash? Read: Coronavirus Investing After the Stock Market Crash

Read my review for what I think is the best Vanguard fund for retirees: Vanguard Wellington Fund (VWELX): Retirees’ Favorite

Are you ready to start investing? Already investing? Check all the boxes with How to Start Investing: A Step-by-Step Guide