Wealth and Income in America

The Perng Family's Story

For families like Angie and Caleb’s, it’s not just about what’s for dinner, but who it’s with. But for families with the US median household income of $68,703, it’s not always easy to feed a family of five.

The good news is that American family wealth is increasing. As a whole, American households have seen their net worth grow from $577,000 per household in the first quarter of 2009 to $881,000 per household in the second quarter of 2019—a 58% growth in 10 years.

Of those households, the wealth of the collective bottom 50% doubled from $976 billion during the recession to $2 trillion in 2019. The top 1% of wealthiest households saw their wealth nearly double as well, from $18 trillion to $34.7 trillion, marking about 32% of all household wealth in 2019.