The bottom half of Americans has more than doubled its net worth since 2019. You wouldn’t know it from scrolling social media. Someone once told me that an opinion capable of enraging both sides of the political divide is probably worth saying.
Ordinary Americans are doing a lot better than you think. And whoever occupies the White House deserves far less credit or blame for it than we like to believe. David Booth on Why You Shouldn't Panic Sell Play video: David Booth on Why You Shouldn't Panic Sell At the end of 2019, the bottom 50% of American households collectively owned about $1.86 trillion in net worth, according to Fed data.
By the second quarter of 2026, that figure had climbed to $4.28 trillion. Don’t Short Yourself offers weekly money tips to help you earn it, stack it and grow it. I would like to receive updates and special offers from Dow Jones and affiliates.
I can unsubscribe at any time. Inflation obviously ate into some of those gains. But even adjusting for CPI, the increase is still roughly 78% in real terms.
And if you go back to 2010, net worth for the bottom 50% has increased tenfold. That is real progress for the least fortunate Americans. The Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances found inflation-adjusted median family net worth reached $215,900.
Meanwhile, 55% of American adults say they have enough emergency savings to cover three months of expenses, according to Fed data. Those two points alone poke a major hole in the popular “Americans are living paycheck to paycheck” narrative. And it’s not just older generations who are thriving.
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