It is the ultimate financial taboo. You likely know who your neighbors voted for, where they vacation, and maybe even the details of their health struggles. But you almost certainly do not know their net worth.
That silence breeds a specific kind of anxiety. In a world where we curate our lives on social media, it is easy to assume everyone else is quietly becoming a millionaire while you are just scraping by.
But are they?
Recent data from financial services company Empower lifts the veil on this secret. By analyzing the real-time finances of Empower users, the company painted a real-world picture of wealth accumulation that spans eight decades.
Defining net worth
Before measuring yourself against the crowd, you need to know exactly what you are measuring.
Net worth is not your salary. You can earn $200,000 a year and have a negative net worth if you spend every dime. Conversely, you can earn $50,000 and still build wealth over time.
In short, your net worth is the total value of all your assets minus the total amount of your liabilities.
Assets are what you own, such as your cash, retirement accounts, home, cars and other investments. Liabilities are what you owe, including credit card debt, student loans, mortgages and car loans.
Empower’s data includes both average and median net worth, and the difference between them is critical.
The average is easily distorted by extremes. For example, if a billionaire moves into your neighborhood, the average net worth of the block skyrockets, even if everyone else is struggling.
The median is the literal middle of the road. It represents the point where exactly 50% of people have more and 50% have less. Typically, the median is a better reflection of reality and thus a more realistic benchmark.
A warning about the data
Empower’s user base is people who actively use a financial dashboard to track their wealth.
By definition, they are more financially engaged than the typical American. So if your net worth is lower, don’t panic. You aren’t necessarily behind; you are just being compared to a group of financial high-achievers.
Ultimately, the most important comparison isn’t between you and a stranger on a spreadsheet — it’s between you today and you yesterday. If that number is moving in the right direction, you are winning.
The breakdown by decade
Here is the average and median net worth by age, according to Empower’s data.
| Age group | Average net worth | Median net worth |
|---|---|---|
| 20s | $127,730 | $6,689 |
| 30s | $321,549 | $24,508 |
| 40s | $770,892 | $76,479 |
| 50s | $1,369,809 | $192,964 |
| 60s | $1,576,784 | $290,920 |
| 70s | $1,462,121 | $232,712 |
| 80s | $1,363,996 | $234,300 |
| 90s | $1,224,187 | $206,054 |
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