How much of your wealth
is your home?
US home equity against net worth, by age, from the Census Bureau's own wealth tables. Take the house out and the median household's net worth falls 67.6% — but the average falls just 30.9%. That gap is the most useful number on this page.
Read the full answer — method, rates and figures
Quick answer: The US Census publishes household net worth both including and excluding equity in the own home, and the gap between the median and the mean is the whole story. For the MEDIAN household net worth falls from $191,100 to $61,930 once home equity is excluded — a fall of 67.6%.
For the MEAN it falls only 30.9%, from $599,600 to $414,100. In other words, for the middle of the country the house is most of the measured wealth, while the average American figure is held up by households whose wealth is mostly not housing.
By age, the median fall is 43.6% under 35 — low only because just 35.1% of those households own a home — rising to 69.4% at 65 and over and 72.1% at 75 and over, as retirement accounts are drawn down while the house is not. Two figures here are routinely misused: this fall is a comparison of two separate medians and does NOT say any one household holds that share of its wealth in its home, and median home equity of $203,000 is measured over HOMEOWNERS only, which is why it exceeds median net worth of $191,100 when only 62.3% of households own.
Figures are US Census Bureau, data year 2023, in current dollars.
Age of householder
Median net worth
$238,400
Without home equity
$78,690
Median falls by
67.0%
Benchmarks are US Census Bureau figures for data year 2023, in current dollars. Nothing you type is sent anywhere — it is computed in your browser.
Sources
U.S. Census Bureau, Wealth, Asset Ownership, & Debt of Households Detailed Tables: 2023 (wealth_tables_dy2023.xlsx), Table 1 (median value of assets), Table 2 (percent holding assets), Table 5 (mean value of assets), by age of householder. Collected through the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Data year 2023; figures verified against the published tables on 2026-09-10. census.gov. General information about published statistics, not financial advice.
Last reviewed 10 September 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Morgan, Richify's AI Mortgage Monitor — an AI author, presented as one.
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This page answers one question — how much of an American household's wealth is the home it lives in — using the one US source that answers it directly. The Census Bureau publishes household net worth INCLUDING and EXCLUDING equity in the own home, side by side, for every age band and for both the median and the mean. Nothing has to be modelled or subtracted to get the headline: $191,100 and $61,930 are both published figures.
What the difference between them is NOT: median home equity. The median of a distribution minus the median of a different distribution is not the median of the difference, because the household in the middle of one ranking is generally not the household in the middle of the other. So the 67.6% figure is stated throughout as how far the median FALLS when housing is excluded from the definition, never as the share of any household's wealth held in its home. Your own share needs your own two numbers.
Median home equity is reported over homeowners only, as all Census asset medians are. That is why $203,000 of median home equity sits above $191,100 of median net worth: the first describes the middle of the 62.3% who own, the second the middle of everybody. The percent-owning column is published beside it for exactly that reason and should be read with it.
Dollars are current 2023 dollars as published, and are deliberately not indexed forward. Indexing a ratio leaves it unchanged only if the numerator and denominator grew at the same rate, and US house prices and financial assets did not. An indexed share would be a model presented as a survey result.
Nothing you type is transmitted. Both inputs stay in the page and the comparison is computed in your browser.
Net worth with and without the house, by age (2023)
Both net-worth columns are published Census figures, not derived. The last column is how far the median falls when home equity is excluded from the definition — a comparison of two distributions, not a household's own split. The 65-69, 70-74 and 75+ rows sit inside the 65 and over row and are shown separately because late-life concentration is the sharpest pattern in the table.
| Age of householder | Median net worth | Excluding home equity | Own a home | Median falls by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | $30,500 | $17,210 | 35.1% | 43.6% |
| 35-44 | $143,700 | $51,130 | 57.9% | 64.4% |
| 45-54 | $238,400 | $78,690 | 66.5% | 67.0% |
| 55-64 | $309,800 | $111,300 | 69.6% | 64.1% |
| 65 and over | $373,100 | $114,200 | 75.3% | 69.4% |
| 65-69 | $390,200 | $139,600 | 76.6% | 64.2% |
| 70-74 | $399,800 | $135,700 | 76.2% | 66.1% |
| 75 and over | $347,300 | $96,760 | 73.9% | 72.1% |
| All households | $191,100 | $61,930 | 62.3% | 67.6% |
Why the median falls 67.6% and the mean only 30.9%
The same survey, the same year, the same question — and a 36.7-point difference. Removing home equity takes 67.6% off the median household and 30.9% off the mean, because the two statistics describe different households. The median is the middle of the country, where the home is the largest asset most families will ever hold. The mean is dragged upward by households whose wealth sits in businesses, stocks and retirement accounts, and for whom the house is a minor line. Quoting the mean drop as "how much of American wealth is housing" understates it badly for almost everyone; quoting the median drop as a national total overstates it.
| Age of householder | Median falls by | Mean falls by | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 43.6% | 32.6% | 11.0 pts |
| 35-44 | 64.4% | 32.3% | 32.1 pts |
| 45-54 | 67.0% | 32.4% | 34.6 pts |
| 55-64 | 64.1% | 28.6% | 35.4 pts |
| 65 and over | 69.4% | 31.0% | 38.4 pts |
What home equity is worth, and to whom
Median equity in the own home is $203,000, but that figure covers HOMEOWNERS only — 62.3% of households. It is larger than median net worth of $191,100 for exactly that reason, and the two must never be divided into one another. Read across the ownership column instead: the reason young households look un-concentrated in housing is not that they hold diversified wealth, it is that 64.9% of them do not own a home at all.
| Age of householder | Own a home | Median equity (owners) | Median retirement accounts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 35 | 35.1% | $100,000 | $21,000 |
| 35-44 | 57.9% | $171,000 | $60,500 |
| 45-54 | 66.5% | $217,000 | $101,000 |
| 55-64 | 69.6% | $230,000 | $158,200 |
| 65 and over | 75.3% | $250,000 | $177,500 |
Both dollar columns are medians among households holding that asset, so they are not comparable to each other as shares of a balance sheet and do not sum to net worth.
Where this sits next to our other US wealth data
This page uses the Census Bureau's wealth tables because they are the only US source that publishes net worth excluding home equity as its own series. Our average net worth by age page uses the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances instead, which is a different survey with a different sample and a different year — so the two sets of dollar figures are not interchangeable and should never be read as a contradiction. To place yourself in the wider distribution, use the net worth percentile calculator or the net worth calculator.
How to use this calculator
- Pick the age band of the householder — the person in whose name the home is held, which is how the Census classifies a household, and not necessarily you.
- Read the two published net-worth figures side by side: the full median, and the median once equity in the own home is excluded. Both come straight from the Census table.
- Look at the ownership column before drawing a conclusion about a young band. A low concentration in housing usually means fewer households own a home, not that they hold more diversified wealth.
- Optionally enter your own two numbers. Home equity is what the property would sell for minus the balance still owing; net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe.
- Treat the comparison as a description of concentration, not a target. There is no official right share, and the useful question is whether your wealth could survive the house being illiquid.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How much of the average American's net worth is their home?
It depends entirely on whether you mean the average or the typical household, and the two answers are very far apart. The Census publishes household net worth both including and excluding equity in the own home.
For the MEDIAN household, net worth falls from $191,100 to $61,930 once home equity is excluded — a drop of 67.6%. For the MEAN it falls from $599,600 to $414,100, a drop of only 30.9%.
The mean is pulled up by households whose wealth is mostly stocks, businesses and retirement accounts rather than housing. For the middle of the country, the house is most of the wealth; for the average, it is under a third.
Source: Census Bureau, data year 2023.
Is that 67.6% the share of my wealth that is my house?
No, and this is the most common way the figure is misread. 67.6% is how far the MEDIAN falls when home equity is removed from the definition — it compares the middle of two different distributions. The household sitting at the middle of the net-worth ranking is generally not the same household sitting at the middle of the net-worth-excluding-housing ranking, so nothing here says any one family lost 67.6% of its wealth.
To get your own share you need your own two numbers, which is what the calculator above is for. It is a statement about the shape of the country, not about you.
Why is median home equity higher than median net worth?
Because they are medians of different groups. Median equity in own home is $203,000, computed over HOMEOWNERS only — and just 62.3% of US households own their home.
Median net worth of $191,100 is computed over everyone, homeowners and renters together. Renters pull the second figure down and are absent from the first.
This is why the two must never be divided into each other to produce a "share" — the answer would be over 100% and would be meaningless. Ownership itself climbs steeply with age, from 35.1% under 35 to 75.3% at 65 and over.
At what age is wealth most concentrated in the home?
On this measure, the oldest households. The median drop when housing is excluded is smallest under 35, at 43.6%, and largest at 75 and over, at 72.1%.
Among the main working-age bands it peaks at 65 and over with 69.4%. The under-35 figure is low for a reason that is easy to misread: only 35.1% of those households own a home at all, so most of them have no equity to remove.
The late-life concentration is the more meaningful one — retirement accounts are drawn down after retirement while the house is not, so housing becomes a larger share of what is left.
Does net worth include home equity?
Yes. Net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe, and your home is an asset while the mortgage against it is a liability — so the equity, meaning market value minus the balance still owing, counts.
That is the standard definition and the one the Census uses. The reason a second "excluding home equity" figure is published alongside it is that home equity behaves differently from the rest of a balance sheet: you cannot sell a tenth of it to cover a bill, it produces no income while you live there, and reaching it means selling, borrowing against it, or downsizing.
Both figures are true; they answer different questions.
How much of my net worth should be my home?
There is no official target, and any specific percentage you see quoted is somebody's preference rather than a rule. What the data supports is a comparison rather than a benchmark: if your home equity is a far larger share of your net worth than is typical for your age, your position is concentrated in an asset that is illiquid, undiversified and cannot be partly sold — which is a description of risk, not a verdict.
If it is far smaller, you either have unusually strong financial assets or you rent. This page is general information, not financial advice.
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Further Reading
Your home, your mortgage and everything else in one number
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