Generational Wealth Gap: How Boomers, Gen X, Millennials & Gen Z Compare (2026)

Baby Boomers hold over half of all American household wealth. That partly reflects age: older households have had decades to save and to see their homes and investments grow. The fairer test is how each generation looked at the same age. On that measure, Millennials are ahead in total wealth, with more of it in the stock market, but also more debt from college.

Total Wealth by Generation

Source: Federal Reserve, Distributional Financial Accounts, 2026 Q2. The Fed’s Millennial group includes everyone born in 1981 or later, so it also covers Gen Z households.

Baby Boomers hold 52.5% of all household wealth, about $97.4 trillion. As that wealth passes to children and grandchildren over the next few decades, often called the “great wealth transfer”, these shares will shift toward younger generations.

Each Generation at the Same Age

Comparing generations at the same point in life removes most of the age effect. The table shows each generation when its middle birth year was about 37 years old, with dollars adjusted for inflation:

Source: Federal Reserve, Distributional Financial Accounts; converted to 2026 Q2 dollars with the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, BLS). Totals, not per-household figures: they also reflect how many households each generation had formed.

Three things stand out:

• Millennials hold more total wealth at this age than Boomers or Gen X did, even after inflation. The rise in stock and home prices since 2020 helped, as did the fact that the Fed’s Millennial group now includes some Gen Z households.
• Millennials own far more stock. Stocks and funds make up about a fifth of their assets, against about a tenth or less for Boomers and Gen X at the same age, largely thanks to 401(k)s and low-cost index funds.
• Gen X had the weakest start. Its measurement point, early 2010, fell right after the 2008 housing crash, when debts were nearly half of Gen X’s assets.

These are totals for the whole generation, not per household, so they also reflect how many households each generation had formed.

Median Net Worth by Generation

Totals are dominated by the wealthiest families. The median family in each generation tells a different story:

Source: Federal Reserve, 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, public data (2022 dollars), our calculation. Families grouped by the household head’s birth year, estimated from age at the survey. Gen Z households were few in 2022 (about 150 surveyed), so treat that row as approximate.

The median Boomer family had about four times the net worth of the median Millennial family in 2022, mostly because of age: home equity and retirement savings build over decades. For a comparison by age group rather than generation, see net worth by age.

Homeownership

Home equity is the largest asset for most middle-class families, so when a generation buys matters. In 2022, 53.3% of Millennial families owned their home, against 70% of Gen X and 77.8% of Boomer families. Home prices have also risen much faster than incomes since the 1990s, which has pushed first-time buying later for younger generations.

Student Debt by Generation

Student debt is heavily concentrated among younger borrowers. In the 2022 survey, about 39.4% of Millennial families and 39.3% of Gen Z families carried student loans, compared with 7.1% of Boomer families.

Federal student loan balances by borrower age:

Source: Federal Student Aid, Federal Student Loan Portfolio by Borrower Age, data as of March 31, 2026. Average = outstanding federal balance ÷ borrowers.

Borrowers aged 35 to 49, mostly older Millennials and younger Gen X, hold the largest share of federal student debt. Borrowers 62 and older, many of whom took out Parent PLUS loans for their children, still owe a meaningful amount. See student loan debt statistics for more.

Retirement Savings

Retirement accounts are the main way younger generations build wealth, since fewer of them will have traditional pensions. In 2022, 59.5% of Millennial families had a retirement account, with a median balance of $30,500 among those who did. For Gen X it was 61.5% and $100,000, and for Boomers 52.6% and $192,000. Boomer ownership is lower partly because many have retired, rolled balances over or started drawing them down, and partly because more of them rely on pensions.

What Each Generation Faces

Baby Boomers (born 1946–1964)

• Advantages: bought homes when prices were lower relative to incomes; many had pensions; rode the long stock market boom of the 1980s and 1990s.
• Challenges: many reach retirement with modest savings outside their home; long-term care and health costs; some took on Parent PLUS loans for their children.

Gen X (born 1965–1980)

• Advantages: now in peak earning years; the first generation with 401(k)s for most of their careers.
• Challenges: hit hardest by the 2008 housing crash; often supporting both children and aging parents; pensions largely disappeared during their careers.

Millennials (born 1981–1996)

• Advantages: the most educated generation; early and cheap access to index funds; decades of compounding still ahead.
• Challenges: more student debt; graduated into or near the 2008 recession; bought homes later and at higher prices relative to income.

Gen Z (born 1997 or later)

• Advantages: the longest runway for compound growth; easy access to low-cost investing from their first paycheck.
• Challenges: high housing costs relative to starting incomes; early careers shaped by the pandemic and the 2021–2023 inflation spike.

The Math That Favors Starting Early

Monthly contributions, 8% annual return compounded monthly, before inflation and taxes.

Related guides

• Wealth inequality in the US
• Net worth by age
• Average income by age
• Average retirement savings
• Millionaire statistics

Part of our net worth guide.

Sources

• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “Distributional Financial Accounts.” federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa
• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “Survey of Consumer Finances, 2022” (public data, our calculations). federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm
• Federal Student Aid. “Federal Student Loan Portfolio.” studentaid.gov/data-center/student/portfolio
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).” bls.gov/cpi

Written by WealthVieu

WealthVieu researches and writes data-driven personal finance guides using primary sources including the IRS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Federal Reserve, and Census Bureau.