United States · Official update
Federal Reserve Board releases results of the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, which provides the public and policymakers with detailed insights into the economic condition of American families
The Federal Reserve Board on Friday released the results of the 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, which provides the public and policymakers with detailed insights into the economic condition of American families.
The data provide a representative picture of what Americans own, how and how much they borrow, and how they bank. The current version of the survey has been undertaken every three years since 1989 and provides the public with an extensive time series of thorough information on the economic conditions of American families. Alongside the survey data, the Board issued its summary report entitled Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025 (PDF), which examines changes in income, net worth, assets, debt, and financial vulnerability.
Key findings from the 2025 survey include:
Real median family income rose 7 percent between the 2022 to 2025 surveys to $82,200, while real mean family income fell 6 percent to $145,200. Families in the lower ends of the income and net worth distributions saw modest increases in median and mean income, while families in the upper ends saw declines.
Between 2022 and 2025, real median net worth rose by 2 percent to $215,900, while real mean net worth rose by 7 percent to $1.24 million. Most families across the net worth and income distributions experienced increases in median and mean wealth.
The homeownership rate was 66 percent in 2025, about unchanged from 2022. For families that owned a home, the median net housing value (the value of a home minus home-secured debt, such as a mortgage) rose to $230,000 in 2025 from $218,900 in 2022.
Retirement plan participation, which includes account-type plans, individual retirement accounts, or defined benefit plans, was up slightly between 2022 and 2025 at around 65 percent. For families with account-type plans, mean and median balances rose.
Participation in the stock market, which includes direct stock and indirect holdings, declined slightly from 58 percent in 2022 to 56 percent in 2025. Conditional on holding stock, median stock holdings grew 36 percent from $56,900 in 2022 to $77,400 in 2025.
The fraction of families with any type of debt remained about stable at 77 percent. Median and mean debt outstanding remained unchanged from 2022.
The fraction of families with debt payment-to-income ratios greater than 40 percent, which are families with particularly high debt payment obligations relative to their incomes, increased from 6.5 to 8.6 percent, a level last seen in the 2013 survey.
In addition to the summary report, an interactive chartbook displaying changes in these financial characteristics over time is available here. Additional data from the survey, including extensive data examining other economic conditions of American families, is made available to researchers and the public here.
The survey is conducted for the Board by NORC, a social science research organization at the University of Chicago. Participants in the study are chosen at random from 119 geographic areas, including metropolitan areas and rural counties across the United States, using scientific sampling procedures that aim to produce a sample representative of American families.
Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025 Evidence from the Survey of Consumer Finances (PDF)
PDF summaries & supporting documents
Inside the document
What the PDF says
Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2022 to 2025
DailyMIQ summary · 66-page source document
The survey shows modest gains in typical U.S. family income and wealth alongside rising payment stress. Overall gains did not reach every group equally.
Key points
Typical income rose; average income fell
Median before-tax family income increased 7% to $82,200, while mean income fell 6% to $145,200. These figures compare 2024 income with 2021 income, in inflation-adjusted 2025 U.S. dollars.
Source: PDF pages 7, 11–13Wealth gains were uneven
Median net worth rose 2% to $215,900. Families under 35 saw median net worth fall 23%, while homeowners and the oldest families generally fared better.
Source: PDF pages 8, 17–19Debt payments became harder to manage
Among families with debt, 19.6% reported being late on loan payments in the previous year, up from 12.2%. Median payments relative to income rose from 13.4% to 15.4% for debtors.
Source: PDF pages 35–37
About the research
Based on 4,367 completed interviews, weighted to represent U.S. families. Results are estimates, subject to sampling and other errors. Survey periods differ from income reference years. PDF pages 59–64 explain the methods.
What this means
Higher asset values do not necessarily mean more cash available for bills. These are U.S. survey findings, not Canadian statistics or a prediction about any individual family.
Key term: Median versus mean
The median is the middle value. The mean is the average and is more affected by very high values.
Summarized by DailyMIQ from the linked Federal Reserve document. Checked October 18, 2026. Read source PDF
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Source & attribution
Source: Federal Reserve. Text reproduced in DailyMIQ’s reading format. Images, charts, navigation, and media contact details are omitted. The source does not endorse DailyMIQ. The original is available free of charge.
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