Study: American Households Hit 43-Year Low In Net Worth

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – The median net worth of American households has dropped to a 43-year low as the lower and middle classes appear poorer and less stable than they have been since 1969.

According to a recent study by New York University economics professor Edward N. Wolff, median net worth is at the decades-low figure of $57,000 (in 2010 dollars). And as the numbers in his study reflect, the situation only appears worse when all the statistics are taken as a whole.

According to Wolff, between 1983 and 2010, the percentage of households with less than $10,000 in assets (using constant 1995 dollars) rose from 29.7 percent to 37.1 percent. The “less than $10,000″ figure includes the numerous households that have no assets at all, or “negative assets,” which is otherwise known as “debt.”

Over that same period of time, the wealthiest 1 percent of American households increased their average wealth by 71 percent.

As noted by Daily Finance, from 1983 to 2010 the share of total wealth held by the richest 10 percent of American households increased from 68.2 percent to 76.7 percent. Meanwhile, all the rest of Americans lost financial ground.

An August Pew Research Center study found that many in the middle-class are divided on how they believe his gap widened.

US median household income in 2011 lowest since 1995

The median income of US households in 2011 dropped to its lowest level since 1995, highlighting the income pressure on Americans on middle to lower steps of the economic pyramid.

The median level is the mid point where half the population sample are above and half below. It avoids the distortions caused by top earners in average income data.

Real median household income in the United States in 2011 was $50,054, a 1.5% decline from the 2010 median and the second consecutive annual drop.

The nation's official poverty rate in 2011 was 15.0%, with 46.2m people in poverty. After three consecutive years of increases, neither the poverty rate nor the number of people in poverty were statistically different from the 2010 estimates.

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2011 was $23,021.


The number of people without health insurance coverage declined from 50.0m in 2010 to 48.6m in 2011, as did the percentage without coverage - - from 16.3% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2011.

In 2011, real median household income was 8.1% lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession, and was 8.9% lower than the median household income peak that occurred in 1999.

In 2011, the median earnings of women who worked full time, year-round ($37,118) was 77% of that for men working full time, year-round ($48,202) - - not statistically different from the 2010 ratio. Real median earnings of both men and women who worked full time, year-round declined by 2.5% between 2010 and 2011. The rates of decline for men and women were not statistically different from one another.

Via: FinFacts