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Americans are richer than ever — at least on paper.
US household net worth climbed to a record $176.29 trillion in the second quarter, according to data released Thursday by the Federal Reserve.
That’s an increase of $7.3 trillion from the first quarter of this year — and about $46 trillion more than in the final quarter of 2019, before the pandemic upended the economy.
The surge was largely driven by Wall Street’s continued rally.
The value of corporate equities and mutual fund shares jumped by $5.5 trillion in the second quarter, while real estate holdings added another $1.2 trillion, the Fed’s quarterly Financial Accounts of the United States report showed.
Much of the stock market‘s strength this year has stemmed from a series of tailwinds: easing geopolitical tensions, renewed optimism over trade deals, and rising bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts.
The AI boom has also fueled investor enthusiasm, while retail traders — often leaning on margin debt — helped push meme stocks into overdrive earlier this summer.
Together, those forces have propelled major indexes to repeated record highs despite lingering concerns about tariffs, inflation, and the strength of the labor market. Fed data shows that this momentum has flowed directly into household balance sheets.
Stock market wealth has surged since late 2019, Fed data shows. Households’ combined corporate equity and mutual fund shares climbed from $29 trillion in 2019 to $48.5 trillion in 2024.
Housing wealth has also ballooned, with real estate assets rising from $29.8 trillion to $48.1 trillion over the same period.
The gains came even as debt levels have continued to climb. Household borrowing rose to an annual rate of 3.8% in the second quarter, while the federal government debt increased at a 1.48%.
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