section_path: Income and wealth/Household net worth and wealth inequality
section_name: Household net worth and wealth inequality
paragraph_text: Household net worth and wealth inequality
  
  As of Q4 2017, total household net worth in the United States was a record $99 trillion, an increase of $5.2 trillion from 2016. This increase reflects both stock market and housing price gains. This measure has been setting records since Q4 2012. If divided evenly, the $99 trillion represents an average of $782,000 per household (for about 126.2 million households) or $302,000 per person. However, median household net worth (i.e., half of the families above and below this level) was $97,300 in 2016. The bottom 25% of families had a median net worth of zero, while the 25th to 50th percentile had a median net worth of $40,000.
  
  Wealth inequality is more unequal than income inequality, with the top 1% households owning approximately 42% of the net worth in 2012, versus 24% in 1979. According to a September 2017 report by the Federal Reserve, wealth inequality is at record highs; the top 1% controlled 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016. The Boston Consulting Group posited in June 2017 report that 1% of the Americans will control 70% of country's wealth by 2021.
  
  The top 10% wealthiest possess 80% of all financial assets. Wealth inequality in the U.S. is greater than in most developed countries other than Sweden. Inherited wealth may help explain why many Americans who have become rich may have had a "substantial head start". In September 2012, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, "over 60 percent" of the Forbes richest 400 Americans "grew up in substantial privilege". Median household wealth fell 35% in the U.S., from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011, due to the Great Recession, but has since recovered as indicated above.
  
  About 30% of the entire world's millionaire population resides in the United States (as of 2009). The Economist Intelligence Unit estimated in 2008 that there were 16,600,000 millionaires in the U.S. Furthermore, 34% of the world's billionaires are American (in 2011).
  
  As of Q4 2017, total household net worth in the United States was a record $99 trillion, an increase of $5.2 trillion from 2016. This increase reflects both stock market and housing price gains. This measure has been setting records since Q4 2012. If divided evenly, the $99 trillion represents an average of $782,000 per household (for about 126.2 million households) or $302,000 per person. However, median household net worth (i.e., half of the families above and below this level) was $97,300 in 2016. The bottom 25% of families had a median net worth of zero, while the 25th to 50th percentile had a median net worth of $40,000.
  
  Wealth inequality is more unequal than income inequality, with the top 1% households owning approximately 42% of the net worth in 2012, versus 24% in 1979. According to a September 2017 report by the Federal Reserve, wealth inequality is at record highs; the top 1% controlled 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016. The Boston Consulting Group posited in June 2017 report that 1% of the Americans will control 70% of country's wealth by 2021.
  
  The top 10% wealthiest possess 80% of all financial assets. Wealth inequality in the U.S. is greater than in most developed countries other than Sweden. Inherited wealth may help explain why many Americans who have become rich may have had a "substantial head start". In September 2012, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, "over 60 percent" of the Forbes richest 400 Americans "grew up in substantial privilege". Median household wealth fell 35% in the U.S., from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011, due to the Great Recession, but has since recovered as indicated above.
  
  About 30% of the entire world's millionaire population resides in the United States (as of 2009). The Economist Intelligence Unit estimated in 2008 that there were 16,600,000 millionaires in the U.S. Furthermore, 34% of the world's billionaires are American (in 2011).
  
  As of Q4 2017, total household net worth in the United States was a record $99 trillion, an increase of $5.2 trillion from 2016. This increase reflects both stock market and housing price gains. This measure has been setting records since Q4 2012. If divided evenly, the $99 trillion represents an average of $782,000 per household (for about 126.2 million households) or $302,000 per person. However, median household net worth (i.e., half of the families above and below this level) was $97,300 in 2016. The bottom 25% of families had a median net worth of zero, while the 25th to 50th percentile had a median net worth of $40,000.
  
  Wealth inequality is more unequal than income inequality, with the top 1% households owning approximately 42% of the net worth in 2012, versus 24% in 1979. According to a September 2017 report by the Federal Reserve, wealth inequality is at record highs; the top 1% controlled 38.6% of the country's wealth in 2016. The Boston Consulting Group posited in June 2017 report that 1% of the Americans will control 70% of country's wealth by 2021.
  
  The top 10% wealthiest possess 80% of all financial assets. Wealth inequality in the U.S. is greater than in most developed countries other than Sweden. Inherited wealth may help explain why many Americans who have become rich may have had a "substantial head start". In September 2012, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, "over 60 percent" of the Forbes richest 400 Americans "grew up in substantial privilege". Median household wealth fell 35% in the U.S., from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011, due to the Great Recession, but has since recovered as indicated above.
  
  About 30% of the entire world's millionaire population resides in the United States (as of 2009). The Economist Intelligence Unit estimated in 2008 that there were 16,600,000 millionaires in the U.S. Furthermore, 34% of the world's billionaires are American (in 2011).