Americans over 70 control nearly one third of household wealth

Five charts to start your day

If you want to understand how the American dream is changing look at the quiet shifts happening inside households. Wealth is ageing fast. Marriage is no longer the default. And the first home is drifting out of reach. The foundations people once assumed were stable are becoming more fluid.

The generational wealth divide is now baked into the system. Older Americans control a record share of household assets after decades of rising markets and repeated crises that rewarded those who already had capital.

Beyond the household you see the same tension. Some countries convert income into mobility. Others do not. And in digital markets like crypto the rules of value feel more psychological than structural. What looks like progress can turn overnight into doubt. That’s what today’s charts are about.

For $10 a month, or $100 a year, you support a simple mission: spread great data visualisation wherever it comes from. You help fund the work of finding, sourcing and explaining the charts that deserve a wider audience. And you back a publication built on generosity, transparency and the belief that better understanding makes a better world.

CHART 1 • Americans over 70 control nearly one third of household wealth

Those aged 70 and above now hold approximately 33% of total US household net worth, up from roughly 19% in 1990. The growth has been particularly pronounced since the 2008 financial crisis, with a notable acceleration during the 2020 pandemic, delivering a compound annual growth rate of 7.6% over 35 years.

This wealth concentration reflects the same dynamics seen in equity holdings, demographics, asset price appreciation, and limited opportunities for younger generations. The baby boomer cohort has benefited from decades of stock market gains, rising property values, and generous pension arrangements increasingly unavailable to younger workers.

Each crisis, the dotcom bust, the 2008 crash, the pandemic, paradoxically widened the gap. Those with capital could buy assets at depressed prices. Those without capital, often younger households dealing with job losses or wage stagnation, could not. The result is a generational wealth divide with significant implications.

Source: Econovisuals

What stays with me across all five charts is how sharply lived experience now diverges by age circumstance and geography. Two people can stand in the same economy yet inhabit different worlds. One accumulates wealth. Another delays milestones that once defined adulthood.

I have got four more charts that build on this story but they are for paid subscribers. Consider joining if you want the full edition.

---