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Wealth of Households: 2022 Current Population Reports By Briana Sullivan and Shomik Ghosh P70BR-202 November 2024 INTRODUCTION This brief examines household wealth at the end of 2022 using the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2023 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) public- use data.1 It highlights differences in asset ownership and debt-holding rates and demonstrates significant variation in median household wealth by demographic and economic characteristics such as education and income. By illustrating how wealth varies across U.S. households, this brief provides key insights into the economic well-being of households.2 THE DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSEHOLD WEALTH Wealth can vary dramatically across households. For example, a household with few assets and a heavy debt load may have negative wealth in the tens of thousands of dollars. Conversely, a household that owns its own home and has multiple retirement accounts may have positive wealth in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Table 1 presents the value of household wealth by percentile. The median household wealth in 2022 was $176,500. The 10th percentile of household wealth was zero dollars, meaning 1 in 10 households had wealth of zero dollars or less. The 90th percentile of household wealth was $1,603,000, meaning 1 in 10 households had wealth exceeding $1.6 million. ¹ The U.S. Census Bureau has reviewed this data product to ensure appropriate access, use, and disclosure avoidance protec- tion of the confidential source data (Project No. P-7516454, Dataset D-0000004561, Approval CBDRB-FY24-0222). ² All estimates include households with negative wealth. WHAT IS SIPP? The Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) is a nationally representative, longitudinal survey administered by the U.S. Census Bureau that provides comprehensive information on the dynamics of income, employment, household composition, and government program partici- pation. The SIPP is also a leading source of data on economic well-being, family dynamics, edu- cation, wealth, health insurance, child care, and food security. The SIPP interviews individuals for several years and provides monthly data about changes in household and family composition and economic circumstances over time. Visit the SIPP website at <www.census.gov/sipp> for more information. KEY CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS A household consists of a group of people occupying a housing unit together (group quar- ters, such as dormitories, institutions, or nurs- ing homes, are excluded from the analysis). The householder is a person who owns or rents the housing unit (i.e., a person whose name appears on the deed or lease). Wealth is the value of assets owned minus the debts owed. Therefore, wealth can be negative. The major assets not covered in this measure are equity in pension plans and the value of home furnishings. Household wealth percentile is the dollar amount below which a given percentage of households fall. The 50th percentile is also referred to as the median. Table 1. Value of Household Wealth by Percentile: 2022 Percentile 2022 dollars 10th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90th . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Z 18,280 176,500 614,700 1,603,000 Z Represents or rounds to zero. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Survey of Income and Program Participation public- use data, Project No. P-7516454, Dataset D-0000004561, Approval CBDRB-FY24-0222.  THE DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSEHOLD WEALTH BY RACE AND ETHNICITY Figure 1 presents the distribu- tion of household wealth by the race and ethnicity of the householder. Households with a White, non-Hispanic or an Asian, non-Hispanic householder were more likely to have wealth over $1 million when compared to other households (20.0 and 29.3 percent, respectively). Meanwhile, 4.0 percent of households with a Black, non-Hispanic house- holder, 7.5 percent with a Hispanic householder of any race, and 11.5 percent with a householder of any other race group or combination had wealth over $1 million. Households with negative wealth are more likely than other house- holds to experience higher rates of financial insecurity and are more vulnerable to economic shocks. Around 21 percent of households with a Black, non-Hispanic house- holder, 15.5 percent with a Hispanic householder of any race, and 16.0 percent with a householder of any other race group or combination had zero or negative wealth.3 Fewer than 10 percent of house- holds with a White, non-Hispanic or Asian, non-Hispanic house- holder had zero or negative wealth (8.4 and 6.6 percent, respectively). MEDIAN WEALTH BY HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS Figure 2 depicts how median wealth varied by demographic and economic characteristics of the household according to the 2023 SIPP. The data suggest that households generally accumulate more wealth as they age. For households in which the householder was under the age of 35, median wealth was $31,110 in 2022. For households in which the householder was between 70 and 74 years old, median household wealth was $403,000, or about 2.3 times the value of overall median wealth ($176,500). Figure 2 also suggests that aging households eventu- ally draw down their wealth. For households in which the house- holder was at least 75 years old, median household wealth was $307,900, or about 80 percent of the median household wealth for householders between 70 and 74 years old. Higher education was associated with more wealth. Median wealth among households in which the most educated member held a high school diploma was $57,020, or 6.6 times greater than house- holds in which no member had a ³ There is no statistically significant dif- ference between the share of households with zero or negative wealth for those with a Hispanic householder and those with a householder of another race or race combination. high school diploma. Households in which the most educated mem- ber had a bachelor’s degree had a median wealth of $287,600, 5.0 times greater than those in which the most educated member held a high school diploma. Households with higher annual incomes had more wealth. When households are separated into income quintiles (meaning five equally sized groups ordered by income from lowest to highest), a meaningful wealth difference can be found between the highest, the middle, and the lowest income households.4 For example, the median wealth of households in the lowest income group (lowest quintile) was 7.3 percent of the median wealth of households in the middle income group (third quintile). The median wealth of households in the third income quintile was 20.6 percent of the median wealth of the households with the highest income (highest quintile). Homeowners were wealthier than renters. Households that owned their home had a median wealth about 44 times larger than those that rented. If home equity is excluded from total wealth, the median wealth of households that owned their home was about 17 times that of the median house- hold that rented. In other words, home equity alone did not account for the difference in median wealth between households that owned and households that rented. ⁴ Thresholds for income quintiles differ across survey years. In the 2023 SIPP public- use data, we define the lowest quintile as household income at or below $30,109. The middle quintile includes households with income between $59,184 and $96,024. The highest quintile is defined as household income above $157,408. 2 U.S. Census Bureau Figure 1. Distribution of Household Wealth by Amount of Wealth and Race of Householder: 2022 (In 2022 dollars) White Alone, not Hispanic Zero or negative $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Zero or negative $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Zero or negative $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ not Hispanic Zero or negative $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Zero or negative $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Note: Householder is a person who owns or rents the housing unit (whose name appears on the deed or lease). Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Survey of Income and Program Participation public-use data, Project No. P-7516454, Dataset D-0000004561, Approval CBDRB-FY24-0222. U.S. Census Bureau 3 Figure 2. Median Wealth by Household Characteristics: 2022 (In 2022 dollars) Age of Householder Highest Level of Educational Attainment in Household No high school diploma High school graduate Associate’s degree Graduate or professional degree Annual Household Income Lowest quintile Second quintile Third quintile Fourth quintile Highest quintile Housing Tenure Marital Status by Age of Householder Renter Married couple Unmarried male Unmarried female Married couple Unmarried male Unmarried female Married couple Unmarried male Unmarried female Married couple Unmarried male Unmarried female Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Survey of Income and Program Participation public-use data, Project No. P-7516454, Dataset D-0000004561, Approval CBDRB-FY24-0222. 4 U.S. Census Bureau Table 2. Asset and Unsecured Debt Ownership Rates for Households and Median Values of Asset Holdings and Unsecured Debts Owed: 2022 Asset or debt type Percent holding asset or debt type Standard error Median value (2022 dollars)1, 2 Standard error (2022 dollars) Wealth Value of asset holdings Assets at financial institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vehicles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Equity in own home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Retirement accounts³ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stocks and mutual funds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Business assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other real estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rental property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other asset holdings⁴ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unsecured debts⁵ All unsecured debts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Credit card and store bills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Student loan and education-related expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Medical debts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Other unsecured debts⁶ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . X 95.8 82.4 62.2 60.3 26.3 16.2 8.6 7.6 6.7 26.2 54.4 41.9 17.1 14.3 9.0 X 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 176,500 3,581 10,600 13,200 198,000 75,000 38,000 8,000 6,000 100,000 200,000 16,000 8,000 4,000 22,000 2,000 7,000 331 179 4,502 1,808 3,030 1,978 1,397 3,676 6,277 1,176 297 Z 1,983 Z 481 X Not applicable. Z Represents or rounds to zero. ¹ Asset values are net of debts held against them, otherwise known as equity. Wealth is also net of all unsecured debts. ² Estimates of median value are conditional on asset ownership or possession of the relevant debt type. If a household held an asset or debt type during the reference year but reported its value to be zero dollars as of December 31 (e.g., because the asset was sold or the debt paid off), the zero is included in the median calculation. ³ Includes Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Keogh accounts, Thrift Savings Plans, and 401(k) accounts. ⁴ Includes annuities, trusts, cash life insurance policies, educational savings accounts, mortgages held for sale of real estate, amount due from sale of business property, and other financial assets. ⁵ The percentage of households holding secured debts and the median value of those debts can be found in the “2022 Wealth, Asset Ownership, & Debt of Households Detailed Tables” at <www.census.gov/data/tables/2022/demo/wealth/wealth-asset-ownership.html>. Estimates are provided for total secured debt, home debt, business debt, and vehicle debt. ⁶ Includes loans obtained through a bank/credit union, money owed to private individuals, debt held against mutual funds or stocks, and all other debts. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Survey of Income and Program Participation public-use data, Project No. P-7516454, Dataset D-0000004561, Approval CBDRB-FY24-0222.  The median wealth of married householders was greater at all age levels than that of unmarried householders. For example, mar- ried householders under the age of 35 had a median wealth 13.8 times that of unmarried female householders and 4.3 times that of unmarried male householders. This pattern suggests that the gaps in median wealth cannot solely be attributed to the presence of an additional adult in the household; otherwise, married householders would have no more than twice the median wealth of unmarried householders. There are also statistically sig- nificant differences in median wealth between men and women U.S. Census Bureau for some age groups. For those under the age of 35, 35 to 54, and 65 and over, the median wealth of unmarried female householders was less than the median wealth of unmarried male householders. For example, unmarried female house- holders under the age of 35 had a median wealth of $8,040 (30.9 percent of their unmarried male counterparts’ wealth). But among those aged 55 to 64, the difference in median wealth between unmar- ried male and female householders was not statistically significant. ASSET OWNERSHIP RATES AND VALUES The SIPP collects data on many different asset types; the ownership rates and median values of these assets are presented in Table 2.5 In calculating median asset value, equity is the value of an asset net of any secured debts held against it. For example, the mortgage balance is subtracted from the value of a home to cal- culate home equity. Therefore, the value of these secured assets may be negative. Assets at financial institutions (such as checking and savings accounts) and vehicle equity were ⁵ Estimates of median value are condi- tional on asset ownership or holding of the relevant debt type. If a household held an asset or debt type during the reference year but reported its value to be zero dollars as of December 31 (e.g., because the asset was sold or the debt paid off), the zero is included in the median calculation. 5 the most common assets. In 2022, 95.8 percent of households had assets at financial institutions and 82.4 percent owned vehicles. The median values of these two asset classes were among the lowest values: $10,600 for assets at finan- cial institutions and $13,200 for vehicles.6 The assets with the highest median values were primary home equity ($198,000) and rental property equity ($200,000).7 Equity in one’s own home was the third-most common asset class; 62.2 percent of households owned a home dur- ing the year. Rental property was among the least commonly held assets, owned by 6.7 percent of households. Retirement accounts were also a major source of wealth with a median value of $75,000. They were the fourth-most common asset class, owned by 60.3 percent of households. RATES AND VALUES OF UNSECURED DEBT HOLDINGS Table 2 also shows debt-holding rates and the values of unsecured debts (e.g., credit card or medical debt). Unsecured debts differ from secured debts in that they have no asset backing them. For example, a lender cannot repossess some- one’s education if the individual fails to pay a student loan, the way an auto lender might repossess a car. By including unsecured debts, Table 2 provides a more com- plete picture of the debts held by households. In 2022, 54.4 percent of house- holds had some unsecured debt. Credit card debt was the most common form of unsecured debt, held by 41.9 percent of households. Student loans, held by 17.1 percent of households, was the category with the highest median amount owed at $22,000. About 14 per- cent of households had medical debt; the median amount owed was $2,000. THE COMPOSITION OF HOUSEHOLD WEALTH Median asset values vary across asset types, meaning that some commonly held assets are a small part of overall wealth (Table 2). Therefore, to illustrate the com- position of wealth, Figure 3 shows aggregate household wealth decomposed by asset type.8 Because the asset holdings of extremely wealthy households are not representative of the rest of the population, this section focuses on households at or below the 99th percentile of net worth. In 2022, home equity and retire- ment accounts composed the majority (63.5 percent) of aggregate household wealth. Specifically, 32.1 percent of house- hold wealth was held in retire- ment accounts, and home equity accounted for 31.4 percent of household wealth.9 Despite being the two most com- monly held assets, assets at finan- cial institutions and vehicle equity accounted for 9.2 percent and 2.9 ⁶ The median values of assets at financial institutions and vehicles are statistically lower than the median values of equity in own home, retirement accounts, other real estate, stocks and mutual funds, and rental property. ⁷ The difference between median rental property equity and median primary home equity was not statistically significant. ⁸ The aggregate value of wealth is defined as the sum of wealth across all U.S. households. To calculate the share of wealth held in a specific asset category, the value of the asset (net of any debt held against it) is summed across all households and divided by aggregate household wealth. ⁹ The share of household wealth held in retirement accounts was not statistically dif- ferent from the share held in home equity. percent of aggregate household wealth, respectively.10 Dividing the total value of unse- cured debt among all households by the total value of household wealth, unsecured debt was 2.8 percent of aggregate wealth. Student loans and other education- related expenses accounted for the largest share of unsecured debt in the United States. Although the magnitude of these expenses was equivalent to 1.4 percent of aggregate wealth, they accounted for about 50 percent of unsecured debt. SUMMARY Estimates presented in this brief illustrate the wide variation in household wealth and, therefore, the economic well-being of house- holds. Assets at financial institu- tions (such as checking or savings accounts) and vehicle equity were the most commonly held assets, but they only accounted for a relatively small portion of aggre- gate household wealth. Retirement accounts and home equity made up the majority of aggregate household wealth. Additionally, the estimates dem- onstrate significant variation in median wealth by demographic and economic characteristics, namely age, education, income, home ownership, and marital status. SOURCE AND ACCURACY Statistics from surveys are sub- ject to sampling and nonsampling error. All comparisons presented in this brief have taken sam- pling error into account and are 10 Note that decompositions of aggregate wealth are not necessarily informative of individual households’ wealth composition. While vehicles represent a small share of aggregate wealth, they represent a much larger share of wealth for households owning only vehicles and a checking account. 6 U.S. Census Bureau 32.1 31.4 Figure 3. Composition of Wealth by Asset Type: 20221 (In percent) Retirement accounts2 Equity in own home Stocks and mutual funds Assets at financial institutions Other asset holdings3 Rental properties Other real estate Business assets Vehicles Bonds Student loan and education-related expenses4 –1.4 Credit card and store bills4 –0.6 Medical debts4 –0.4 Other unsecured debts4, 5 –0.4 10.9 9.2 4.5 4.5 3.1 3.1 2.9 1.2 1 Excludes households in the top 1 percent of wealth. 2 Includes Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), Keogh accounts, Thrift Savings Plans, and 401(k) accounts. 3 Includes annuities, trusts, cash life insurance policies, educational savings accounts, mortgages held for sale of real estate, amount due from sale of business property, and other financial assets. 4 Because wealth is assets minus debts, unsecured debts are subtracted from the distribution of wealth and are shown as negative. 5 Includes loans obtained through a bank or credit union, money owed to private individuals, debt held against mutual funds or stocks, and all other debts. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Survey of Income and Program Participation public-use data, Project No. P-7516454, Dataset D-0000004561, Approval CBDRB-FY24-0222. significant at the 90 percent confidence level, unless otherwise noted. This means the 90 percent confidence interval for the differ- ence between the estimates being compared does not include zero. Nonsampling errors in surveys may be attributed to a variety of sources, such as how the survey was designed, how respondents interpret questions, how able and willing respondents are to provide correct answers, and how accu- rately the answers are coded and classified. To minimize these errors, the Census Bureau employs quality control procedures throughout the production process, including the overall design of surveys, wording of questions, review of the work of interviewers and coders, and the statistical review of reports. at <www.census.gov/programs- surveys/sipp/tech-documentation. html>. Additional information can be found on the main SIPP website at <www.census.gov/sipp>, in the SIPP Users’ Guide at <www. census.gov/programs-surveys/ sipp/guidance/users-guide. html>, and in the SIPP Source and Accuracy Statements at <www. census.gov/programs-surveys/ sipp/tech-documentation/source- accuracy-statements.html>. For technical documentation and more information about SIPP data quality, visit the SIPP website’s technical documentation page CONTACTS For more information on the con- tent of this report or on the SIPP, including data and methodology, contact the SIPP Coordination and Outreach staff at <census.sipp@ census.gov> or 1-888-245-3076. SUGGESTED CITATION Briana Sullivan and Shomik Ghosh, “The Wealth of Households: 2022,” Current Population Reports, P70BR-202, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC, 2024. U.S. Census Bureau 7