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An Analysis of the Distribution of Wealth Across Households, 1989-2010, July 17, 2012

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CRS – An Analysis of the Distribution of Wealth Across Households, 1989-2010. Linda Levine, Specialist in Labor Economics, July 17, 2012.

  • “The distribution of wealth (net worth) across households has been an underlying consideration in congressional deliberations on various issues, including taxation and social welfare. This report analyzes the change over time in the concentration of net worth (assets minus liabilities) to help inform those policy deliberations.
    According to data from the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), mean household net worth was $498,800 and median household net worth was $77,300 in 2010. The median is the value at which one-half of wealth-owners have lower values and one-half have higher values of wealth. It is a better indication of the wealth of the “typical” household than is the mean which, because of the way in which it is calculated, is greatly affected by the small number of households with high values of wealth. A mean over six times a median suggests substantial concentration of wealth among households at the upper end of the wealth distribution.”

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