How is U.S. household wealth divided?

The chart

At the end of June 2026, the wealthiest 1% of U.S. households held 32.5% of all household wealth, the next 9% held 36.4%, the next 40% held 28.8% and the bottom 50% held 2.3%. In 1989 the shares were 22.8%, 38.0%, 35.7% and 3.5%. Wealth here is net worth: what households own (homes, stocks and mutual funds, pensions and retirement accounts, private businesses, cars and other belongings, bank deposits) minus what they owe (mortgages, credit cards, student and car loans). The Fed estimates each quarter by combining its Financial Accounts with its Survey of Consumer Finances, taken every three years, so the newest quarters are estimates that get revised.

The lesson

How to read this chart

Each bar is one group of U.S. households' share of all household wealth, so the four bars add up to 100%. The groups are different sizes: the top 1% is one household in every hundred, while the bottom 50% is half of all households. Compare each group's share of wealth with its share of households.

Questions to discuss

1. Which group holds the largest share of wealth? Is it the group with the most households?
2. If wealth were split evenly, what share would the bottom 50% hold? How far is the chart from that?
3. The takeaway gives the 1989 shares too. Which groups gained a share since then, and which lost one?

Share it with your class

Post this link in Google Classroom, Canvas or Moodle. Students see the chart, how to read it and the questions; they don't need an account.