The Fed's 2026 data shows the median US household net worth is just $220,000, while the average is $1.23 million, a gap of nearly five times.
The Federal Reserve has released the distribution of American household net worth for 2026. The wealthiest households have pulled the average up, but the median is the number that reflects most people's reality.
The distribution looks like this
The average net worth of all US households is $1.23 million, up 16%. But the median is only $220,000 — half of all households have less.
The top 25% threshold is $810,000, and the top 10% is $2.55 million. At the top 1%, the threshold jumps to $16.5 million, 75 times the median.
The very top is steeper than you think
The top 0.1%, though small in number, needs $63.8 million to enter; the top 0.01% contains only 13,000 households and requires $125 million.
The author concludes by adding a link to the detailed source for readers to check themselves.
Why it matters
A median-to-average gap of nearly five times shows how concentrated wealth is at the top: when the average gets pulled up by a few very rich households, it is badly misleading as a picture of an ordinary family's assets.
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