--- title: America's Total Net Worth Just Hit a Record High description: U.S. households saw their total net worth rise to a record level of $84.9 trillion in the first quarter of 2015, the Federal Reserve reports. But adjusted for inflation, most people in the U.S. have actually seen both their income and net worth decline in recent years. authors: - name: Susie Poppick url: https://money.com/author/susie-poppick/ at_money_since: 2013 articles: 117 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/susiepoppick former_staff: true published: '2015-06-12T21:23:46.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T06:00:19.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - home - home equity - Inequality - Net Worth - pub desk - real estate - United States word_count: 217 canonical: https://money.com/americans-total-net-worth-record/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![american-net-worth-high-united-states](https://img.money.com/2015/06/american-net-worth-high-united-states.jpg) U.S. households saw their total net worth rise to a record level of $84.9 trillion in the first quarter of this year, the Federal Reserve [reported](http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/z1.pdf) Thursday. That's compared to $80.3 trillion a year ago. But this raw figure—which includes all assets including homes and stocks, minus debts—doesn't tell you much about how the average American is doing. It doesn't account for inflation, or for the way wealth is distributed among different households. Other data have been showing that most people in the U.S. have actually seen both their [income](http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/09/04/it-only-takes-10400-to-be-richer-than-most-millennials/) and [net worth](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/business/the-typical-household-now-worth-a-third-less.html) decline, in inflation adjusted terms, in recent years. Gains have been concentrated among the wealthiest Americans. In fact, the wealth gap between the rich and the merely middle-class is at a 30-year high, according to a recent Pew [study](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/17/wealth-gap-upper-middle-income/). And once you account for the fact that most people have their net worth tied up in their homes, it becomes clearer why many Americans don't have enough money for retirement. Still, a more meaningful measure in the number released by the Fed today shows that there is promise for the economy. The ratio of household net worth to personal disposable income has risen to 639% from 629% a year ago, signaling that—at least in the aggregate—people might soon [be ready](http://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-net-worth-hits-high-of-84-9-trillion-1434038401) to start spending more. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/americans-total-net-worth-record/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Wealth", "item": "https://money.com/wealth/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "America's Total Net Worth Just Hit a Record High" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/americans-total-net-worth-record/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/americans-total-net-worth-record/", "name": "America's Total Net Worth Just Hit a Record High", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-06-12T21:23:46.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/americans-total-net-worth-record/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/americans-total-net-worth-record/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T06:00:19.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "America's Total Net Worth Just Hit a Record High", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/06/american-net-worth-high-united-states.jpg", "width": 5624, "height": 3112, "caption": "american-net-worth-high-united-states" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susie Poppick", "url": "https://money.com/author/susie-poppick/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/susie-poppick/#author", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/05/14-05-21_bio_author_poppick.jpg?quality=85&w=190&h=190&crop=1", "email": "susie_poppick@moneymail.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/susiepoppick" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-06-12T21:23:46.000Z", "description": "U.S. households saw their total net worth rise to a record level of $84.9 trillion in the first quarter of 2015, the Federal Reserve reports. But adjusted for inflation, most people in the U.S. have actually seen both their income and net worth decline in recent years.", "abstract": "U.S. households saw their total net worth rise to a record level of $84.9 trillion in the first quarter of 2015, the Federal Reserve reports. But adjusted for inflation, most people in the U.S. have actually seen both their income and net worth decline in recent years.", "@id": "https://money.com/americans-total-net-worth-record/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T06:00:19.000Z", "wordCount": 217, "keywords": [ "home", "home equity", "Inequality", "Net Worth", "pub desk", "real estate", "United States" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Political economy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_economy" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Wealth", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth" ] } ] } ] } ```