Another Look at Net Worth in America

Meanwhile, the rest of the country’s net worth has actually fallen since the Great Recession — and has yet to recover. The net worth of American families — that is, the difference between the values of their assets, including homes and investments, and liabilities — fell to $81,400 in 2013, down slightly from $82,300 in 2010, but a long way off the $135,700 in 2007, according to a report released last January by the nonprofit think tank Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. That means that, even though the Great Recession is officially over, Americans are still around 40% poorer than they were in 2007, the year before the global financial crisis. The median net worth of white households was $141,900 in 2013, down 26% since 2007. It declined by 42% to $13,700 over the same period for Hispanic households and fell by 43% to $11,000 for African-American households.