Are You Rich for Your Age? Here’s How Your Net Worth Compares

How much does it actually take to be wealthy at 30, 50, or 70? There is no single number that answers that, but the Federal Reserve gives us a useful reality check. Its 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, still the most recent survey available, breaks family net worth down by age. The median shows the midpoint of each group, while the mean is often much higher because the wealthiest families pull the average up. The gap between those two numbers is one of the most revealing parts of the data.

There is another catch: where you live can change what those numbers mean in everyday life. The same net worth can support very different spending power in Los Angeles than in a lower-cost Alabama city, and a big home-equity number is not the same thing as having that much cash available to spend. These figures are best used as benchmarks, not as a scorecard for who is rich or poor. Here is how American families compare by age, using the Fed's figures in 2022 dollars, plus one important reason geography can change the picture.

Among families with a reference person under 35, median net worth was $39,000 in the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, while mean net worth was $183,500. The median is the midpoint of the group, while the mean can be pulled sharply higher by families with much greater wealth. So being above $39,000 puts a family above the median for this age range, but it does not automatically make someone rich.

For people in their 20s and early 30s, a balance sheet can change quickly as debt, homeownership, earnings and retirement savings change. The Fed's figures are national and reported in 2022 dollars, so they are not a current-dollar wealth target and they do not account for the very different costs of living from one part of the country to another.

For families with a reference person between 35 and 44, median net worth was $135,600 in the Fed's 2022 survey. Mean net worth was much higher at $549,600. That $414,000 gap is a useful reminder that the average is not the same thing as the typical family. A smaller number of very wealthy families can pull the mean far above the midpoint.

Net worth is essentially what a family owns minus what it owes, so rising home equity or a growing retirement account can increase the total even when day-to-day cash still feels tight. This is also why two families with the same net worth can feel very different financially. One may have much of its wealth tied up in a house, while another may hold more in retirement accounts, investments or cash.

By ages 45 to 54, median family net worth in the Fed's 2022 data reached $247,200. Mean net worth was $975,800, nearly four times as high. That is exactly why the mean should not be treated as the amount everyone in their late 40s or early 50s is supposed to have. The median gives a clearer picture of the middle of the group.

This can also be a financially crowded decade, with retirement saving competing with mortgages, family expenses and other debt. A quarter-million-dollar net worth may sound substantial, but the number still needs context. Someone with most of that wealth tied up in a home is in a different position from someone with the same net worth spread across cash and investments. The Fed figure is a comparison point, not a savings target.

For families with a reference person between 55 and 64, median net worth was $364,500 in the Fed's 2022 survey. Mean net worth reached about $1.57 million. That seven-figure average can make it sound as though most people approaching retirement are millionaires, but the median tells a very different story. The middle family in this age group had less than one-quarter of the mean.

At this stage of life, the makeup of that $364,500 matters as much as the headline number. Home equity, retirement accounts, taxable investments, cash and debt can leave two families with the same net worth but very different financial flexibility. The Fed benchmark also does not tell you how much someone needs to retire. Spending, income, debt and local prices vary too much for one national number to answer that question.

Families with a reference person between 65 and 74 had the highest median net worth of any age group in the Fed's 2022 survey, at $409,900. Their mean net worth was also the highest, at about $1.79 million. The pattern is clear in the survey: median net worth rises across the younger and middle-age groups before reaching its highest point in the 65-to-74 category.

Still, $409,900 is not a universal retirement target or a clean dividing line between rich and poor. Two retirees with identical net worth can have very different financial lives depending on how much is tied up in a home, how much debt they carry, what income they receive from Social Security or a pension, and what their monthly expenses look like. The number tells you where the midpoint was, not whether a particular household is financially secure.

Among families with a reference person age 75 or older, median net worth was $335,600 in the Fed's 2022 survey. That is below the 65-to-74 figure, while mean net worth remained much higher at about $1.62 million. Once again, the distance between the median and mean shows why an average can give a distorted impression of what a typical older family actually has.

The lower median does not, by itself, mean older households suddenly become worse off. The survey is a snapshot, not an explanation for why wealth changes with age. What it does show is that age alone cannot tell you whether someone is financially comfortable. A paid-off home, debt, Social Security or pension income, health expenses and the amount of wealth that is readily accessible can all change what the same net worth means in everyday life.

Net worth does not change just because you cross a state line, but the buying power behind it can. The Bureau of Economic Analysis uses Regional Price Parities, or RPPs, to compare local price levels with a U.S. average of 100. In its latest 2024 data, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metro had an RPP of 113.6, meaning its overall price level was 13.6% above the national average. Dothan, Alabama, was at 83.8, or 16.2% below the national average.

RPP is a price-level measure, not a formula for adjusting someone's net worth. Still, it shows why a national wealth benchmark can only tell part of the story. The same balance sheet can support more day-to-day spending in a lower-cost area than in an expensive metro. Home equity adds another wrinkle because a more valuable house can raise net worth without creating the same amount of spendable cash. Data sources: https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area