Older Americans have seen their wealth rise tremendously in recent years, while other age groups have not been as lucky, according to a new paper.
Over a recent 40-year period, between 1983 to 2022, the relative household wealth of those now ages 75 years and older has “sharply risen” while the wealth of all other age groups has declined, New York University Economist Edward Wolff wrote in a new paper. The Americans whose wealth has outpaced all other generations are a part of the older Baby Boomers group, or those born before 1950.
Wolff used the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances to compare two age groups — 35 years and under and 75 and over — and found the main factors that drive generational wealth are high homeownership rates, high amounts of stocks owned, and low home mortgage debt.
Related: Home Sellers Now Outnumber Buyers in Record Numbers. Here’s What It Means for Home Prices.
Here’s how older Baby Boomers got so rich:
Homeownership rates
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Baby Boomers own nearly 40% of all available homes in the U.S., even though they make up just 20% of the population. The National Association of Realtors estimated in April that the Baby Boomer generation accounted for 42% of all home buyers, with nearly half of all Boomers purchasing homes with cash.
Meanwhile, a Freddie Mac report from February 2024 found that, as Baby Boomers age, declining home ownership will cause 9.2 million homes to hit the market by 2035. The generation owned 32 million homes in the U.S. in 2022, but Freddie Mac predicted that the number would decline to 23 million by 2035.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors estimated that home prices have almost doubled from 2014 to 2024, growing from a median of $217,100 in 2014 to $418,700 a decade later. In July 2025, median home prices hit another record high.
Stocks
When it comes to stocks owned, Boomers also stand out. According to The Kobeissi Letter, a commentary on global markets, Boomers held 54% of all U.S. corporate stocks and mutual funds in the first quarter of the year, compared to just 8% for millennials.
“The generational wealth divide is massive,” The Kobeissi Letter wrote in a post on X.
US equity ownership is heavily skewed toward older generations:
Baby Boomers now hold 54% of all US corporate equities and mutual fund shares, down only slightly from 57% in Q1 2020.
By comparison, Millennials own just 8% of all equities, up from ~2% in 2020.
Gen X accounts… pic.twitter.com/4ofwErSlPq
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) July 14, 2025
Home mortgage debt
Home mortgage debt, which refers to the amount owed as a result of buying a home, is also particularly low for older generations. According to Bankrate, the average mortgage balance in the final quarter of 2024 was $194,334 for Baby Boomers — much lower than the $312,014 balance attributed to Millennials (ages 28 to 43) or the $283,677 balance associated with Gen X (ages 44 to 59).
Mortgage debt is trending higher overall. The average U.S. mortgage debt was $252,505 in 2024, a close to $8,000 increase from the previous year, according to credit bureau Experian.
Related: Here’s How Much You Need to Make Per Year to Buy a Typical Home in the U.S., According to a New Report
Older Americans have seen their wealth rise tremendously in recent years, while other age groups have not been as lucky, according to a new paper.
Over a recent 40-year period, between 1983 to 2022, the relative household wealth of those now ages 75 years and older has “sharply risen” while the wealth of all other age groups has declined, New York University Economist Edward Wolff wrote in a new paper. The Americans whose wealth has outpaced all other generations are a part of the older Baby Boomers group, or those born before 1950.
Wolff used the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances to compare two age groups — 35 years and under and 75 and over — and found the main factors that drive generational wealth are high homeownership rates, high amounts of stocks owned, and low home mortgage debt.
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