These 18 million households now rank as the richest in the U.S., new Fed data shows

Sometimes the key to building wealth is just sticking around, new Federal Reserve data suggests.

The report assesses U.S. families' financial health, measuring wealth, income and liabilities such as credit card debt and student loans. All figures in the report are adjusted for inflation.

Between 2022 and 2025, households headed by 65- to 74-year-olds saw their wealth increase by 37%.

The findings underscore how robust stock market gains over the last three years have boosted the wealth of many Americans. The S&P 500 gained about 78% between the end of 2022 and 2025, the period measured by the Federal Reserve's report.

Meanwhile, the median net worth of the richest one-tenth of American families soared 31% to $3.6 million from 2022 to 2025, the Fed survey found.

Households headed by someone over 75 account for about 13.4% of the nation's families, making it the smallest U.S. age group. Families led by people under 35 are the largest, accounting for about one in five households, according to the Fed.

The increase may reflect the impact of years of above-normal inflation since the pandemic, although the survey doesn't capture this year's reacceleration of price increases sparked by soaring energy costs.

About one in 12 families is spending roughly 40% or more of their incomes on repaying debt, the highest share in at least 12 years, the report showed.

Typical households headed by someone younger than 35 saw their median net worth plunge 23% between 2022 and 2025, to $33,000, the Fed found. That decline in wealth for young families was chiefly due to a drop in business equity gains over the previous three years.

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