Charted: U.S. Population by Generation

How U.S. Wealth Breaks Down by Generation

American households are worth a combined $185.7 trillion, and more than half of that belongs to a single generation.

This graphic compares each generation’s share of U.S. households with its share of household net worth as of Q2 2026, using data from the Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts.

Net worth is assets such as homes, stocks, and pensions minus debts like mortgages and credit cards. The Fed assigns each household to a generation based on the birth year of its reference person, typically the head of household, and counts everyone born in 1981 or later as a Millennial, so Gen Z is included in that group.

Why Baby Boomers Hold So Much U.S. Wealth

Decades of accumulating stocks, homes, and pension savings have left Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, with the largest share of U.S. household wealth.

Generation X is the only generation whose share of wealth closely matches its share of households, at 26% for each, with $47.7 trillion in net worth.

The table below shows each generation’s share of U.S. households and household net worth as of Q2 2026:

The Silent Generation and older now head just 7% of households, but those households hold 11% of U.S. household wealth, averaging about $2.2 million in net worth each.

Stock ownership helps set Boomers’ wealth apart. They hold $35.2 trillion in stocks and mutual funds, or 55% of the household total. Their net worth rose by $7.9 trillion in Q2 2026 alone, with $5.5 trillion of that increase coming from equities. That quarterly equity gain alone was equal to more than a quarter of all Millennial and Gen Z wealth.

Millennial Wealth Is Growing, but Boomers Are Adding More

Millennials and Gen Z have grown from 4.9% of U.S. household net worth in Q2 2020 to 11.2% today, as their wealth nearly quadrupled from $5.3 trillion to $20.8 trillion.

Even so, Boomer net worth rose by $38.2 trillion over the same six years, compared with $15.5 trillion for Millennials and Gen Z, who make up the largest generational group in America. A smaller percentage gain on a much larger base can still add more dollars.

The table below shows each generation’s share of U.S. household net worth in the second quarter of every sixth year since 1990:

The Silent Generation held 80% of household wealth in 1990 and holds 11% today. The Boomer share peaked at 55.5% in 2014 and has slipped only three percentage points since, even as Boomers’ share of households fell from 36% to 30%.

Millennial balance sheets also look very different. Real estate makes up 38% of their assets, compared with 20% for Boomers, and they owe $8.6 trillion, or 43% of all household debt. That is more than Boomers and the Silent Generation owe combined, and equal to 29% of Millennial assets versus 4% for Boomers.

The generational wealth picture will continue to change as Boomers age and assets are transferred to younger generations. How quickly that reshapes the chart will depend not only on inheritances, but also on asset prices, debt, homeownership, and how wealth is distributed within each generation.

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Which Countries Have the Highest Reading Scores?

Reading performance is declining across many OECD countries, raising concerns about how well students can interpret and evaluate information in an increasingly digital environment.

This visualization ranks 40 countries and economies by their average reading scores in the 2025 PISA assessment, with results published in September 2026.

Conducted by the OECD, PISA measures how well 15-year-olds can apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problems. The 2025 assessment included more than 760,000 students representing roughly 33 million 15-year-olds.

Asian Education Systems Lead the Ranking

Singapore ranks first globally in PISA reading. Its literacy curriculum takes a highly structured approach, combining guided reading, discussion, and targeted support for weaker readers from primary school onward.

The country’s English curriculum also emphasizes higher-order skills such as inference, evaluating arguments, identifying evidence, and critically interpreting information across different types of texts.

China, Taiwan, Japan, Macao, and Korea complete the top six, underscoring the strong showing by Asian education systems.

Ireland Leads Europe

Ireland has the highest reading score among European countries in the dataset, at 500 points. Estonia follows closely at 499, while the United Kingdom rounds out Europe’s top three at 494.

Several major European economies sit much closer to the OECD average of 461. Germany scores 465, while France and Spain come in below the average at 456 and 451, respectively.

North America’s two entries are tied at 490. That puts both the United States and Canada behind the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, and Estonia, but 29 points above the OECD average.

Recent research shows that reading for pleasure is declining in the U.S., with just 16.1% of Americans ages 15 and older reading for leisure on an average day in 2025, down from 27% in 2005.

Reading Scores Are Falling

Reading performance has declined significantly across OECD countries over the past decade. Average reading scores fell from 489 points in 2015 to 461 in 2025, a 28-point drop and a steeper decline than in math or science over the same period.

The OECD notes that strong reading skills are increasingly important for finding, evaluating, interpreting, and reflecting on information in a digital environment.

It also reports that weakening reading performance predates the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries, while increased digitalization, longer screen time, and declining reading for enjoyment have coincided with weaker outcomes.

As AI makes information easier to generate and access, the ability to critically evaluate what we read may become even more important.

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If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Countries by Education Spending as % of GDP on Voronoi.