Felix Nikolas Prehn on the wealth gap: a 2 per cent family and a 7 per cent family

Between the Federal Reserve’s 2022 and 2025 surveys, the typical US family’s household wealth rose 2 per cent. The average family’s rose 7 per cent. Both figures are correct. They answer different questions, and the distance between them is where the story of the survey sits. The Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances, published 9 October 2026, asks families what they own and owe. The Fed reports two summaries of the answers. The median is the family in the middle: half have less, half have more. The mean is the total divided by the number of families.

Source: Finbold