The Young Are Richer Than You Think · Avy Faingezicht

The generational story we're often told is simple: Boomers got houses and pensions, Millennials got the short end of the stick with student debt and a sequence of economic crises, and Gen Z got an even worse deal, but at least they got TikTok. The fact that Boomers have more money today than other generations is obviously right. With decades of earning and compounding on their side, comparing Millennials' current wealth with Boomers' only tells us that 35-year-olds have less money than 65-year-olds. Duh.

A few years back, Ernie Tedeschi (Head of Economic Insights and Research at Stripe) tweeted an analysis making a more interesting point: Gen Z and Millennials in the US are not poorer than Boomers were at the same age. A narrative violation.

Below, I tried to reproduce Tedeschi's analysis using public data from the Fed's Survey of Consumer Finances, and extended it beyond Tedeschi's initial look at medians to assess wealth distribution more broadly. Click around to see the numbers across generations, diving into specific ages or percentiles. There's some nuance around family composition and the timing of events, but it's pretty clear that wealth is greatly skewed, and that younger generations are richer than the usual story would have you believe.

And yes, all these numbers are in 2025 dollars, adjusted for inflation.

Wealth by age, across generations

MeasurePer adultFamily<br>ViewFanP10P25MedianP75P90

Greatest1901-1927Silent1928-1945Boomers1946-1964Gen X1965-1979Millennials1980-1996Gen Z1997+2 selected

Real net worth by age and selected generationNested percentile bands from the 10th through 90th percentile, with a median line. Values are in constant 2025 dollars.$1k$10k$100k$1m$10m20304050607080AgeSource: Federal Reserve SCF, 1989–2022Around age 25<br>MedianP90Gen Z$16k$204kBoomers$9k$151k

▸See the raw dataSortable wealth percentiles for the selected generations and measureGeneration↕Age↑P10↕P25↕Median↕P75↕P90↕Gen Z18-$8,527$52$4,779$16,276$29,658Gen Z19-$10,685$52$4,163$16,823$37,472Gen Z20-$10,461$114$6,070$20,087$71,391Gen Z21-$11,789$274$7,397$20,962$76,399Gen Z22-$10,557$569$10,197$31,360$124,124Gen Z23-$11,280$816$11,712$59,592$173,180Boomers24-$5,368$25$10,105$35,865$160,586Gen Z24-$10,519$2,126$14,253$68,396$198,930Boomers25-$5,401$25$8,836$35,916$151,027Gen Z25-$10,897$2,850$15,769$86,280$203,818Boomers26-$3,551$1,036$12,399$55,627$142,531Gen Z26-$5,202$4,775$28,517$108,226$229,398Boomers27-$2,576$1,767$14,393$62,279$154,994Boomers28-$1,273$2,175$21,359$75,819$175,807Boomers29-$1,126$2,658$25,650$87,091$197,341Boomers30-$703$4,445$32,076$94,342$201,846Boomers31-$571$5,202$35,057$98,284$214,311Boomers32-$300$6,849$40,163$108,673$247,517Boomers33-$193$7,806$44,413$118,697$258,215Boomers34-$20$9,691$49,887$132,198$269,374Boomers35$0$10,788$55,952$148,088$309,001Boomers36$0$12,812$62,905$162,813$356,210Boomers37$11$14,605$67,764$172,283$385,557Boomers38$399$17,620$75,407$191,202$438,098Boomers39$1,240$21,027$84,731$215,568$491,062Boomers40$1,655$26,332$92,552$240,408$536,241Boomers41$2,193$29,836$103,026$260,594$565,349Boomers42$3,264$33,090$111,782$282,588$608,476Boomers43$3,726$35,021$113,109$295,751$642,405Boomers44$4,047$35,816$120,038$317,752$684,887Boomers45$3,922$36,068$126,046$337,024$715,645Boomers46$4,592$37,855$130,490$357,559$788,421Boomers47$4,319$39,225$136,482$371,747$825,658Boomers48$4,165$40,992$145,694$388,357$896,374Boomers49$4,258$43,140$148,983$402,494$967,825Boomers50$4,419$43,340$154,123$429,654$1,041,940Boomers51$3,837$43,107$157,609$443,249$1,108,996Boomers52$4,395$45,967$169,140$481,481$1,235,656Boomers53$4,002$45,805$178,985$510,277$1,286,523Boomers54$3,555$45,048$184,847$541,927$1,404,955Boomers55$4,083$50,248$195,468$565,016$1,498,907Boomers56$4,205$52,503$205,579$605,990$1,634,340Boomers57$4,423$54,077$209,819$616,217$1,689,368Boomers58$4,798$59,224$217,444$653,350$1,826,157Boomers59$5,545$64,008$226,444$670,597$1,837,883Boomers60$5,643$62,795$229,414$698,486$1,941,123Boomers61$6,162$66,272$228,446$699,856$1,976,858Boomers62$5,720$64,058$231,541$718,323$1,922,014Boomers63$5,902$62,582$231,782$703,468$1,828,634Boomers64$6,329$65,327$234,560$682,098$1,880,642Boomers65$6,741$67,834$233,627$667,406$1,887,120Boomers66$6,533$68,476$242,350$663,614$1,832,652Boomers67$7,278$75,559$247,937$680,474$1,883,494Boomers68$7,154$76,257$264,848$695,722$1,919,217Boomers69$6,927$84,173$271,772$712,346$1,837,648Boomers70$6,519$81,102$282,939$706,687$1,728,796Boomers71$7,585$88,230$313,835$762,339$1,947,782Boomers72$7,888$89,216$317,664$782,574$2,022,727Boomers73$10,302$109,804$317,505$778,779$1,926,219Boomers74$7,573$102,852$310,784$859,101$2,264,450Boomers75$9,243$114,099$352,924$1,004,395$2,478,361Boomers76$7,823$116,045$281,445$811,331$2,426,283Boomers77$7,365$111,815$263,178$704,081$2,241,532Boomers78$5,881$60,918$170,539$611,418$3,217,216<br>Constant 2025 dollars. Five-year pooled age windows; five implicates. Bands show the...