The average American aged 50 and above is worth $1.4 million — but there's a catch
Data from Empower, a financial services firm, shows older Americans are generally wealthier.
Jan. 20 2026, Published 8:05 a.m. ET
As of 2025, the average American in their 50s was worth a whopping $1.4 million, according to a report from Empower, the financial services firm. The number keeps climbing with age, with the data suggesting Americans in their 60s command an average net worth of $1.6 million. However, this is only half the truth, as averages can be skewed by a few high earners in the data set. This becomes more evident as the more appropriate marker, the median net worth, comes out be about $192,964 and $290,920, respectively, for the two age groups.
According to Empower, Americans in their 20s had the lowest average net worth of about just $127,730, considerably lower than the older generation, as per the data drawn from anonymized Empower users in October 2025. The report explains that a number of factors have allowed older Americans to amass more wealth, with one of the biggest being home values that have risen considerably in the past decade. The homeownership rates increase with age, and older Americans are likely to have more equity in their properties.
Coming to the discrepancy in net worth, the data shows a massive gap between the median net worth and the average net worth of all age groups across the board, suggesting a clear divide between the income of the high and the low earners. While the age group of 20-29 had an average net worth of $127,730, the median stood at just $6,689, with the report suggesting that for many, it is likely in the negative unless they had sufficient savings.
The same was observed in the wealthiest age group, 60-somethings, as well, where the average net worth was $1.6 million, but the median came out to be just $290,920. The report noted that this was still the wealthiest age group, as this is the time when most Americans pay off their mortgage, and empty nesters have fewer expenses. “This is your peak,” Liz Gillette, a certified financial planner in Edgewater, Maryland, told USA Today. The data further falls in line with the last federal survey, in 2022, which showed an average net worth of $1.1 million for Americans between the ages of 50 and 54, and $1.4 million for ages 55 and 59. Despite the divide between the average and median, it is clear that Americans get wealthier, sort of dramatically, as they grow older.
However, the net worth starts to decline after the age of 70, as per the report, with the number falling to $1.5 million, and the median coming down to $232,712. Ryan Viktorin, vice president and financial consultant at Fidelity Investments, told USA Today that the reason why net worths typically start to decline is that most Americans stop working at this age, and their savings begin to run out. However, those who invest in the stock market may not see a big decline as the market is currently favorable to them. “Anybody who has retired over the past 10 or 15 years has retired into an upmarket,” Viktorin said.
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