America’s richest generation got much richer in recent decades as everyone else fell behind

America’s richest generation is only getting richer.

Between 1983 and 2022, the relative household wealth of Americans 75 and older soared, while the mean net worth of all other age groups fell, according to a new paper by Edward Wolff, a New York University economist.

Wolff found the gap was driven by three main factors: the homeownership rate, the share of stocks owned, and mortgage debt. He zeroed in on the gap in median net worth between Americans over 75 and those under 35.

In the introduction to his paper, Wolff said he had intended to investigate the relative and absolute decline in younger Americans’ wealth. But his research uncovered that “the real story is the remarkable upswing in the net worth of older American households.”

The paper found that homeownership rates for Americans 65 and older rose by more than seven percentage points between 1983 and 2022, while they stagnated among those under 35.

Boomer homeowners have benefited from soaring home values over the last few decades amid a shortage of homes and growing demand. And they’re holding onto those homes, to the detriment of younger would-be buyers. As of 2022, empty-nest boomers owned twice as many homes with three or more bedrooms as millennials with kids.

At the same time, younger people who’ve managed to buy a home have seen their mortgage debt rise much more than older Americans have.

Older Americans have also disproportionately benefited from a healthy stock market. The growth in popularity of 401(k)s and other stock-based retirement portfolios has helped explode boomers’ wealth.

Not all boomers, of course, have been so lucky.

Many older Americans struggle to find affordable and accessible homes to rent or buy for their later years.

With growing long-term care and healthcare costs, and rising property taxes, home maintenance costs, and insurance premiums, even some older homeowners are feeling squeezed, Business Insider has previously reported.

About a third of 65-and-older households were cost-burdened in 2023, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing, according to a new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. More than half of those were severely cost-burdened, spending more than 50% of their income on housing.

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