The Federal Reserve provides information on the distribution of U.S. household wealth in the form of interactive charts and tables. These allow users to explore household wealth components, shares and levels across various groups and time. The information was last updated in September 2023. This post will cover wealth assets and trends by wealth percentile group. Here’s the chart of assets by wealth percentile group:
A very brief explanation of terms: The five main categories of real estate are residential, commercial, industrial, raw land, and special use properties such as private schools and museums. Corporate equities are ownership shares of joint-stock corporations. A stock market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks, which represent ownership claims on businesses. Stocks are an investment in a single company, whereas mutual funds have many investments, such as stocks and bonds, in a single fund. Defined benefit pension plans promise a specified monthly benefit at retirement, whereas contributed benefit plans do not. Private business assets are items of value that one’s business owns or creates, including cash, inventory, equipment, buildings and intellectual property. Other assets include cash, art, collectibles, vehicles, etc.Okay, so the top 10% own the lion’s share of stocks and bonds and real estate is the largest asset for the bottom 90%. I assume that would be mostly primary residences. How about trends:
It looks like U.S. households have accumulated a lot of wealth over the last 30+ years, with most of it going to the top 50% of households. No surprise there.
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Next: Wealth assets and trends by income.