For millions of families in the US, wealth has inched up modestly in the last few years, but for older Americans, it’s surged.
People 75 and older are now the richest group in the US, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances. The survey, published every three years, found that the median family net worth in the US, adjusted for inflation, rose 2% to $215,900 between 2022 and 2025.
But among the 75 and older cohort, their median net worth rose 37% to $505,000, compared with $367,000 in 2022.
Families younger than 35, meanwhile, saw their median net worth dive 23% to $33,000.
As Mark Zandi, Moody’s chief economist, told Yahoo Finance: “The baby boomers have arrived!”
“The oldest of the large boomer generation has aged into the 75 and older age group, and the surging stock market has benefited older Americans more because they have more of their wealth in retirement accounts,” he said.
Wealth inequality on display
This isn’t startling news given long-held patterns of wealth inequality in America.
“On balance, wealth inequality appears little changed since 2022,” according to the Fed research. “These changes in wealth largely reinforced existing patterns of wealth inequality by family characteristics.”
Groups that typically have less wealth — young people, renters, and those without a high school diploma — saw their wealth slip in the years following the pandemic.
Families that already had more wealth, whether thanks to age or higher income, saw some of the largest gains.
One reason: Higher-income families tend to save more, which in turn helps their wealth grow even more.
“Net worth tends to increase and then plateau (or decline) over the life cycle, reflecting changes in savings behavior that occur with age as individuals save for retirement throughout their working career and then spend those savings in retirement,” per the report.
Importantly, a variety of other factors, aside from age, come into play, including education, race, and whether you’ve built up equity in a home.
For example, when the head of a family had a college degree, they had 1.9 times the median income of those with some college and almost 3 times the median net worth.
Stocks and home values lift Americans’ net worth
It makes sense that many older baby boomers who bought homes and stocks decades ago have seen their assets take off in value.
Between the start of 2022 and the end of 2025, the S&P 500 gained roughly 52.41% on a total return basis (including reinvested dividends).
For families owning a home, the median net housing value (home value minus debt) rose from $218,900 in 2022 to $230,000 in 2025, according to the Federal Reserve report.
Many of those 75 and older may have bought homes when prices were a whisper of what they are today. A typical three-bedroom home in northwest Washington, D.C., for example, purchased three decades ago for under $300,000 could easily have been valued at roughly $1 million in 2025, according to Zillow.
“Higher interest rates also helped as this group has a lot of wealth tied up in CDs and other interest-bearing assets,” Zandi added.
The Social Security factor
Social Security is a key factor in older Americans’ wealth gains, said Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economics professor and Social Security expert.
“Social Security benefits have risen substantially more rapidly than median wages, and that has been happening for some time. People 75-plus who’ve been able to get Social Security for probably now 13 years, or at least 10 years, have benefited from that as opposed to those who are in the younger age group and on the job,” he said.
From December 2015 to December 2025, median weekly wages outpaced inflation, according to Pew Research Center data. But over the five years leading up to December 2025, real wages fell after factoring in inflation.
Social Security benefits, on the other hand, have increased by a cumulative total of approximately 35.5% over the past 10 years through annual Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA), according to the Social Security Administration.
On the flip side: Rising senior poverty
While many boomers are truly living their golden years, more seniors are spending them in poverty.
Poverty among Americans age 65 and older rose for the fifth consecutive year and has jumped roughly 45% since 2019 — the highest rate of any age group, a recent AARP Foundation analysis of Census data found.
That translates to 10 million seniors living in poverty, up from 5.1 million seven years ago.
“No other age group has seen that same pattern, and that should really stop us in our tracks. It’s alarming,” said AARP Foundation president Claire Casey.
The poverty slide starts well before age 65. More than 7 million people in their 50s and early 60s are already living in poverty, Casey said.
The barriers to saving: healthcare costs, inflation, long-term care, wages failing to keep pace with expenses, and debt.
Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist and the author of 14 books, including “Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,” “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work,” and “Never Too Old to Get Rich.” Follow her on Bluesky.
