---
title: "Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth"
slug: the-bottom-half
summary: "Wealth share of the bottom fifty percent of U.S. households at 2.3% in Q2 2026, about the same as a year earlier"
category: "The Deal"
unit: percent
frequency: quarterly
direction: lower_is_worse
latest_value: 2.3
latest_period: "2026-Q2"
trend: stable
last_updated: "2026-09-22T00:00:00Z"
source: "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED"
source_url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBSB50215
canonical_html: https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/
citation_apa: "Kilburn, R. (2026). Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/"
citation_chicago: "Kilburn, Ross. 2026. \"Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth.\" American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/."
citation_mla: "Kilburn, Ross. \"Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth.\" American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/."
---

# Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth

Also tracked as The Bottom Half.

> Wealth share of the bottom fifty percent of U.S. households at 2.3% in Q2 2026, about the same as a year earlier

## Current Reading

As of 2026-Q2, Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth is **2.3%** (stable).

Federal Reserve estimate of the share of household net worth held by households below the median in wealth. It was 2.4% in Q2 2025, about the same.

## What Changed

- The bottom half of U.S. households by wealth held 2.3% of household net worth in Q2 2026, about the same as the 2.4% of Q2 2025.
- Recent quarters are Federal Reserve model estimates and are revised; a 0.1-point move can be revised away.

## Recent Values

| Period | Value |
|--------|-------|
| 2026-Q2 | 2.3% |
| 2026-Q1 | 2.4% |
| 2025-Q4 | 2.4% |
| 2025-Q3 | 2.4% |
| 2025-Q2 | 2.4% |
| 2025-Q1 | 2.4% |
| 2024-Q4 | 2.4% |
| 2024-Q3 | 2.4% |
| 2024-Q2 | 2.5% |
| 2024-Q1 | 2.5% |
| 2023-Q4 | 2.5% |
| 2023-Q3 | 2.6% |

## Historical Context

- Peak since 1989: **4.1%** in Q3 1992
- Low since 1989: **0.4%** in Q4 2010
- Pre-pandemic average (2015-01 – 2019-12): **1.4%**
- Post-pandemic average (2020-01 – 2024-12): **2.42%**

## Methodology

This indicator carries quarterly observations and is interpreted as lower values indicate worse household conditions. Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED.
Automation: collected automatically on the daily refresh pipeline, with no hand entry.

## Source

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System data retrieved via FRED — [https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBSB50215](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WFRBSB50215)

Data retrieved: 2026-09-22T00:00:00Z

## Machine-Readable Endpoints

- HTML page: https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/
- JSON: https://americandefault.org/api/indicators/the-bottom-half.json
- CSV: https://americandefault.org/api/downloads/the-bottom-half.csv
- BibTeX: https://americandefault.org/citations/the-bottom-half.bib
- RIS: https://americandefault.org/citations/the-bottom-half.ris

## Citation

**APA 7th**

    Kilburn, R. (2026). Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth [Data set]. American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/

**Chicago (author-date)**

    Kilburn, Ross. 2026. "Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth." American Default Research. https://americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/.

**MLA 9th**

    Kilburn, Ross. "Bottom-Half Share of Household Wealth." American Default Research, 2026, americandefault.org/indicators/the-bottom-half/.

Use **American Default Research** as the institutional name in source lists, bibliographies, and press citations. **American Default** is the brand and URL form. **American Distress Index (ADI)** is the product name for the national composite score.