Two things happened in the American economy over the same five years, and both are true. The United States minted 441,078 new dollar millionaires in 2025 alone, more than 1,200 a day, nearly half of every new millionaire created on Earth, according to the UBS Global Wealth Report 2026. And since 2020, the wealth of the typical American household has fallen almost 20% in real terms. Same economy, same five years, opposite outcomes.
Average vs. Median: The Idea That Unlocks Everything
Average wealth divides all the wealth in the country by the number of people. It is exquisitely sensitive to the top. If one billionaire’s net worth jumps by $100 billion, the “average American” gets richer on paper even if everyone else stays exactly the same.
Median wealth describes the household sitting in the exact middle: half of Americans above, half below. It ignores extremes and describes what life actually looks like for a typical family.
Per UBS, since 2020, average wealth per US adult rose nearly 10%, while median wealth fell almost 20% once inflation is counted. That is a precise mathematical description of gains so concentrated at the top that they lift the national average while the middle slides backward.
The Full Picture
The US now holds 23.6 million millionaires, over 40% of the global total of 57.5 million, and controls 35.7% of all personal wealth UBS tracks worldwide. Its wealth Gini coefficient sits at 0.77, the sixth-highest of the 56 markets UBS studied.
In Q3 2025, the top 1% of US households owned 31.7% of all US wealth, the highest share since the Federal Reserve began tracking in 1989. That 1% now owns 50% of all US stocks and mutual funds, up from 40% in 2002. As Moody’s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi put it: “Household wealth is highly concentrated and becoming steadily more concentrated.”
Four Structural Forces
Stocks: Per Gallup, 87% of Americans who own stocks live in households earning $100,000 or more. The S&P 500’s 16.64% gain in 2025 flowed almost entirely to the top quartile.
Housing: Middle-income families hold most of their wealth in their homes. The Case-Shiller National Home Price Index sat at 332.7 in April 2026, barely above its January 2026 reading of 326.7, while equities surged.
Inflation: The Consumer Price Index reached 333.952 in June 2026, up from 322.561 a year earlier. Food, energy, and healthcare consume a bigger share of a middle-income budget.
Wages: Real average hourly earnings sat at $11.32 in June 2026, essentially flat versus $11.31 a year earlier. Per Bank of America, higher earners saw 3% wage growth in December 2025; middle-income households got 1.5%, and low-income households just 1.1%.
A 40-Year Bipartisan Trend
Wealth concentration has accelerated under administrations of both parties. In 1982, the floor to make the Forbes 400 was $250 million in today’s dollars; in 2025 it was $3.8 billion, a 15x rise. Economist Paul Krugman found today’s 15 richest Americans hold 1.65% of all US wealth versus 0.77% for the top five in 1918, concentration that exceeds the Gilded Age.
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment index fell to 44.8 in May 2026, down from 61.7 the previous July, approaching recessionary levels. The personal savings rate slid to 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026 from 6.2% in the first quarter of 2024.
What the Typical American Can Do
The dividing line between the 441,000 and everyone else is mostly one thing: stock market participation. A household that invested consistently in broad index funds from 2020 through 2025 captured the average gain. A household holding cash or with wealth locked in a home lived the median decline.
In 2026, 401(k) contribution limits are $24,500, or $32,500 for those 50 and up. An employer match is among the highest-return uses of capital available to most working Americans, and unclaimed matches represent forgone compensation for middle-income households. As UBS warns, “outcomes will increasingly depend on access to investable assets and the ability to diversify, shaping how widely future gains will be shared.” The chasm between the 441,000 and the typical American is a function of access, and access is a decision.
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