Quick Summary
Average and median net worth by US state in 2026. Aggregated from Fed SCF, Census, and BLS data. Plus what drives the rank order: home equity, retirement, age, income mix.
Quick answer. US household median net worth was $192,700 in 2022 dollars per the Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances, which is roughly $215,000 in 2026 dollars after CPI adjustment. The Fed does not publish state-level net worth directly. The table below aggregates SCF demographics with Census American Community Survey housing and income data to estimate a state-level mean and median in 2026 dollars. The top three states by estimated mean net worth are Massachusetts ($1.65M), Connecticut ($1.58M), and New Jersey ($1.42M). The bottom three: Mississippi ($412K), West Virginia ($438K), Arkansas ($481K). Median figures, which sit closer to typical experience, compress the range substantially. Full table, methodology, and caveats below.
State-level net worth comparisons are widely cited and widely misunderstood. Every ranking you see is an aggregation, because the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances and the quarterly Financial Accounts of the United States report only national totals, not state-level breakdowns. So the rank order matters more than any specific dollar figure, and the methodology matters more than the rank order. The table below is built to be embedded, cited, and updated annually. The numbers will move; the structure should not.
Average net worth by state, 2026
This table shows estimated mean and median household net worth for each US state and the District of Columbia, in 2026 dollars. Methodology is described in the next section.
| Rank (mean) | State | Mean net worth | Median net worth | Median home equity share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massachusetts | $1,650,000 | $342,000 | 41% |
| 2 | Connecticut | $1,580,000 | $325,000 | 45% |
| 3 | New Jersey | $1,420,000 | $312,000 | 48% |
| 4 | California | $1,395,000 | $293,000 | 52% |
| 5 | Maryland | $1,340,000 | $298,000 | 47% |
| 6 | New Hampshire | $1,285,000 | $284,000 | 50% |
| 7 | Washington | $1,265,000 | $279,000 | 51% |
| 8 | Virginia | $1,210,000 | $271,000 | 46% |
| 9 | Colorado | $1,195,000 | $268,000 | 49% |
| 10 | Hawaii | $1,170,000 | $262,000 | 58% |
| 11 | New York | $1,165,000 | $258,000 | 38% |
| 12 | Minnesota | $1,140,000 | $254,000 | 42% |
| 13 | Alaska | $1,095,000 | $246,000 | 44% |
| 14 | Rhode Island | $1,070,000 | $238,000 | 46% |
| 15 | Vermont | $1,055,000 | $234,000 | 48% |
| 16 | Utah | $1,030,000 | $229,000 | 51% |
| 17 | Oregon | $1,015,000 | $225,000 | 50% |
| 18 | Illinois | $1,000,000 | $221,000 | 39% |
| 19 | Pennsylvania | $985,000 | $218,000 | 40% |
| 20 | Wisconsin | $968,000 | $215,000 | 43% |
| 21 | Wyoming | $952,000 | $212,000 | 47% |
| 22 | North Dakota | $946,000 | $209,000 | 41% |
| 23 | Nebraska | $935,000 | $206,000 | 43% |
| 24 | Iowa | $928,000 | $204,000 | 44% |
| 25 | Texas | $920,000 | $201,000 | 38% |
| 26 | Maine | $912,000 | $197,000 | 49% |
| 27 | Florida | $905,000 | $194,000 | 42% |
| 28 | Delaware | $895,000 | $191,000 | 45% |
| 29 | South Dakota | $886,000 | $188,000 | 42% |
| 30 | Kansas | $870,000 | $184,000 | 41% |
| 31 | Montana | $862,000 | $181,000 | 48% |
| 32 | Arizona | $850,000 | $177,000 | 44% |
| 33 | Georgia | $835,000 | $172,000 | 39% |
| 34 | Michigan | $820,000 | $168,000 | 41% |
| 35 | North Carolina | $812,000 | $165,000 | 40% |
| 36 | Ohio | $798,000 | $161,000 | 39% |
| 37 | Idaho | $785,000 | $158,000 | 47% |
| 38 | Indiana | $762,000 | $152,000 | 40% |
| 39 | Nevada | $748,000 | $148,000 | 43% |
| 40 | Missouri | $735,000 | $145,000 | 39% |
| 41 | Tennessee | $712,000 | $139,000 | 41% |
| 42 | South Carolina | $695,000 | $135,000 | 42% |
| 43 | Oklahoma | $642,000 | $122,000 | 38% |
| 44 | Alabama | $618,000 | $116,000 | 40% |
| 45 | New Mexico | $592,000 | $108,000 | 41% |
| 46 | Kentucky | $568,000 | $102,000 | 39% |
| 47 | Louisiana | $542,000 | $95,000 | 38% |
| 48 | Arkansas | $481,000 | $86,000 | 38% |
| 49 | West Virginia | $438,000 | $78,000 | 41% |
| 50 | Mississippi | $412,000 | $72,000 | 39% |
Source. Aggregated by FinancialAha from Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances 2022, Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year 2020-2024 estimates, and Federal Reserve Financial Accounts of the United States, Z.1, 2025:Q4. Figures are in 2026 dollars and rounded to the nearest thousand. Methodology below. The District of Columbia is not shown in the ranked table because it is a single-city outlier (estimated mean ~$1.78M, median ~$305,000) that is not directly comparable to state-level aggregates.
The mean column is heavily influenced by the top of the wealth distribution in each state. The median column is closer to typical experience. A state with high wealth concentration (financial hubs, large second-home markets) will show a wider mean-to-median gap.
How the numbers were built
The SCF does not publish state-level net worth. Asking for one straight from the Fed is not possible because the survey sample, while large, is not designed to be representative at the state level. The Z.1 quarterly release reports a single national household net worth figure (and aggregates by asset class), not a state breakdown.
To get to state-level estimates, the standard approach combines three public datasets:
- National wealth distribution by demographic. The SCF reports household net worth by age bracket, income quintile, education, race, homeownership status, and a few other slices. This is the closest thing to a “wealth function” of household characteristics that exists at high quality.
- State-level demographics. The Census ACS reports income distribution, age distribution, education levels, homeownership rates, and median home value for every state, updated annually with both 1-year and 5-year estimates.
- State-level home equity. ACS reports median home value and mortgage holder share by state; combining the two with national mortgage-debt-to-value ratios gives an estimate of average home equity per state.
The estimation runs in two passes. First, for each state, the resident demographic mix (income quintile shares, age bracket shares, homeownership rate) is mapped to the SCF’s national wealth function to produce a “predicted” mean and median net worth. Second, the home equity layer is recalibrated with state-specific housing data, because home prices are the single biggest state-to-state wealth differentiator and the SCF national averages would otherwise understate California or Massachusetts and overstate Mississippi or West Virginia.
The output is a synthetic state-level estimate. It is consistent with national totals from Z.1 and the SCF, but the per-state precision is limited by the quality of the demographic match. Confidence intervals are wider for small-population states (Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska) and tighter for large states with rich ACS samples (California, Texas, Florida, New York).
A few specific caveats:
- Top-end undersampling. The SCF oversamples wealthy households but still struggles with the top 0.1 percent and above. State means may be understated for states with concentrated ultra-high-net-worth populations (Connecticut, New York, California).
- Retirement accounts and pensions. Defined-contribution retirement balances (401(k), IRA) are included at face value. Defined-benefit pensions are included at estimated present value, which is approximate.
- Business equity. Closely held business equity is reported imprecisely in the SCF, and varies a lot by state (high in states with concentrated entrepreneurship, low elsewhere).
- Three-year SCF cycle. The most recent published SCF wave is 2022, with the next (2025 wave) expected in late 2026. The state-level estimates above use the 2022 SCF inflated to 2026 dollars using the BLS CPI-U series, and updated ACS data through the 2020-2024 5-year release.
The table will be revised in early 2027 when the 2025 SCF publishes. The state ordering is likely to be stable; the absolute dollar figures will shift.
What the top 10 states share
The top of the table is not an accident. The high-net-worth states cluster around a few overlapping features.
Older populations. Median age in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut is over 42, several years above the US median of 38.9. Older households have had more years to accumulate, more time for compounding, and higher rates of home equity buildup. Age explains a meaningful share of the gap, separate from income.
Higher housing equity. Massachusetts, California, Hawaii, and Washington all have median home values above $500,000. Even at the same homeownership rate as the national average, the dollar value of equity is multiples higher. Hawaii’s 58 percent home equity share of net worth is the highest in the table.
Strong employer retirement coverage. States with concentrated white-collar employment (Massachusetts, Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut) have higher rates of 401(k) participation, employer match, and defined-benefit pension coverage among long-tenure public employees. This translates directly into retirement balances.
Above-median household income. Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut all have median household incomes above $90,000 per ACS. Income is not net worth, but income enables savings rate, and savings rate over time becomes net worth.
None of these is a single explanation. The top states stack two or three of them.
What the bottom 10 states share
The bottom of the table is also patterned. Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, and New Mexico share several structural features.
Lower median home values. Median home value in Mississippi and West Virginia is below $175,000, less than a third of the Massachusetts figure. Even at full ownership, the equity asset is structurally smaller.
Lower household income. Median household income in Mississippi is around $54,000, in West Virginia around $56,000, compared with the US median near $76,000. The gap compounds over a working lifetime through savings rates.
Younger or less college-educated populations. Lower educational attainment correlates with lower lifetime earnings and lower retirement plan coverage. This shows up in both the income line and the retirement balances line.
Higher reliance on liquid earnings, lower asset accumulation. The bottom states tend to have more of their wealth in primary residence equity (where it is) and less in retirement accounts, brokerage assets, or business equity.
This is not a moral ranking. It is a description of who lives there, how old they are, what they earn, and what they own. Hold income, savings rate, and time constant across two 35-year-olds (one in West Virginia, one in Connecticut) and the wealth-accumulation math comes out close at 65, once you adjust for housing cost. The state-level table reflects population composition more than it reflects opportunity.
Home equity as a state-level wealth driver
For most US households, primary residence equity is the single largest asset. The SCF reports it at roughly 25 to 30 percent of total household wealth nationally, with higher shares in lower-net-worth households (where home equity is sometimes 60 to 70 percent of the total).
At the state level, the share of net worth in home equity varies sharply. The right-most column in the table above shows median home equity as a share of median net worth.
- High home equity share states (Hawaii, California, Washington, Connecticut): housing dominates the wealth picture. A drop in home prices would mechanically shrink reported net worth in these states more than in others.
- Low home equity share states (New York, Texas, Illinois): wealth is more spread across financial assets, partly because of higher renter populations in the major metros and partly because of larger business and brokerage holdings among the high-income households who pull the mean up.
This explains a known oddity: New York ranks 11th by mean despite having the lowest home equity share of any top-15 state. The reason is concentrated financial wealth in the New York metro area, which lifts the state mean even though the state’s homeownership rate (54 percent) is below the national average (66 percent).
A state-level wealth ranking that strips out home equity tells a different story than one that includes it. Both are valid views of “net worth”; the reader should know which they are looking at.
Age distribution and the lifecycle effect
State-level wealth is partly a function of where people are in their life cycle. The SCF’s national median household net worth by age, from our earlier piece on net worth by age, is:
| Age bracket | Median household net worth (2026 dollars) |
|---|---|
| Under 35 | $39,000 |
| 35 to 44 | $135,600 |
| 45 to 54 | $247,200 |
| 55 to 64 | $364,500 |
| 65 to 74 | $409,900 |
| 75 and over | $335,600 |
The under-35 bracket has roughly one-tenth the wealth of the 65 to 74 bracket. So a state with a young population (Utah, Texas, Alaska) shows lower mean net worth from age effects alone, separate from any income or housing factor. A state with an older population (Maine, Florida, West Virginia) skews higher on the same logic.
Florida is the cleanest illustration. One of the highest shares of residents over 65 of any state (around 21 to 22 percent) and a steady inflow of retirees who bring accumulated wealth from other states. Florida’s mean of $905,000 reflects that composition more than it reflects an underlying high-earning workforce.
West Virginia is a counter-example. The state has an older population (median age 42.9) but also lower lifetime earnings and lower home values. Age alone doesn’t lift it; the other factors weigh it down.
Income versus net worth: the accumulator gap
High-income states do not always lead in net worth, and high-net-worth states do not always lead in income.
| Metric | Top 3 states |
|---|---|
| Median household income | Maryland ($98K), New Jersey ($96K), Massachusetts ($94K) |
| Mean net worth | Massachusetts ($1.65M), Connecticut ($1.58M), New Jersey ($1.42M) |
| Homeownership rate | West Virginia (74%), Minnesota (72%), Michigan (71%) |
| Median home value | Hawaii ($720K), California ($670K), Massachusetts ($545K) |
Maryland leads in income but trails Massachusetts and Connecticut in mean net worth. Why? Two reasons. First, Maryland’s wealth distribution is less top-heavy; high-income federal and contracting jobs produce a broad upper-middle class but fewer ultra-wealthy households. Second, Massachusetts and Connecticut have older populations with longer accumulation horizons, plus more concentrated financial sector wealth.
This is the accumulator gap: net worth is income times savings rate times time, with home equity layered on top. High income alone does not produce high wealth in the absence of savings rate and time. State-level data shows this pattern at the aggregate level; individual households show it as a personal lifecycle question.
For a generational view of how the income-to-wealth conversion has changed over decades, the Net Worth by Generation analysis compares Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials at the same ages. The pattern is consistent with the state-level data: time and home equity are the dominant variables.
How to read the table without misreading it
A few honest cautions about using state-level data.
A state average is not a personal target. The numbers describe who lives in the state, on average. They do not describe what a typical 35-year-old in that state should have. Individual outcomes depend on income, savings rate, and time, not zip code.
The mean-to-median gap matters. A state where the mean is 5 times the median is more unequal than one where it is 3 times. Massachusetts ($1.65M mean, $342K median) is 4.8x. Mississippi ($412K mean, $72K median) is 5.7x. Wealth concentration varies by state, and the mean alone hides it.
Adjusting for cost of living changes the story. A $1.65M net worth in Massachusetts buys less retirement runway than a $1.0M net worth in Mississippi at the same lifestyle, because housing, healthcare, and basic consumption are more expensive. The unadjusted table favors high-cost states; a cost-of-living-adjusted version would compress the spread significantly.
Methodology drift will move ranks. Different aggregators (Federal Reserve research papers, academic studies, financial industry surveys) use slightly different inputs and produce different rankings. Our table is one of several plausible versions. The top and bottom 10 are stable across methodologies; the middle is more volatile.
Demographics drift, slowly. As the median age of US states shifts (especially rural states losing younger residents and Sun Belt states gaining retirees), the ranks will drift with it. The 2030 version of this table will not match the 2026 version.
For a broader view of where US household finances sit mid-2026 (cash positions, debt levels, savings rates), the State of Personal Finance Mid-2026 review combines SHED, BLS, and Z.1 data into a national snapshot.
How tracking your own number compares to the state benchmark
A state-level table is not a target. It is context for the number you log monthly. Three useful uses:
- Sanity check. If your net worth is well below the state median for your bracket, the data tells you that. Acting on it is a separate decision.
- Trajectory. Your direction of travel month over month matters more than your level versus a benchmark. An $84,000 net worth growing $2,200 a month and a $310,000 net worth that has gone flat for a year are two different financial situations, even though one number is bigger.
- Composition. Some people are home-equity heavy; others are retirement-heavy; others hold most of their wealth in business equity. The state averages give a sense of what a typical mix looks like in your state.
The Net Worth Tracker logs your assets and liabilities monthly, with a benchmark comparison sheet that puts your number next to national and age-bracket medians from the SCF. It does not currently show a state-by-state overlay, but the national-vs-yours view captures most of what people want from the comparison.
The Net Worth Tracker (Essentials) is a simpler $19 version for people who want to track once a quarter without the benchmark layer.
For people who want to see the relationship between current net worth and projected wealth at retirement, the Financial Planning Spreadsheet runs a 40-year projection with cash flow, net worth, and FIRE in one file.
Where this fits in the broader picture of liquid savings, the Average Emergency Fund by Income Bracket piece looks at the cash component of net worth, which sits behind state averages and explains some of the bottom-state gap (lower liquid balances, not just lower assets).
Sources and methodology
Data sources used to build the state-level estimates:
- Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances 2022. National wealth distribution by demographic, including age bracket, income quintile, education, race, and homeownership status. Published October 2023.
- Federal Reserve Financial Accounts of the United States, Z.1. Quarterly household balance sheet aggregates. Used for the national net worth control total. Most recent release: 2025:Q4 (March 2026).
- Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates 2020-2024. State-level demographics, income distribution, homeownership rate, and median home value. The 2020-2024 5-year release is the most recent published as of early 2026.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. Used to verify the relationship between state-level income quintiles and household expenditure as a cross-check on savings rate assumptions.
Adjustments and assumptions:
- All figures in 2026 dollars. The 2022 SCF nominal national median household net worth was $192,700; carried forward through the BLS CPI-U series to Q1 2026 that is approximately $215,000. State-level mean and median figures in the table above are stated on the same 2026-dollar basis.
- Top-end smoothing: the top 1 percent of households in each state are estimated from SCF national patterns scaled by state per-capita income; this is a known weak point and contributes most of the methodology uncertainty for state means.
- Confidence: the relative ranking (top 10 vs bottom 10) is high confidence. The exact dollar figures for any given state are approximate, with implied confidence intervals of roughly +/- 10 to 15 percent for mid-population states and wider for low-population states.
- The District of Columbia is excluded from the state ranks because it is a single-city outlier with a non-representative demographic mix. The DC estimate is provided in the methodology summary above for reference.
Get the template
- Net Worth Tracker - Monthly asset and liability log with a 12-month trend chart and benchmark comparison to SCF medians by age.
- Financial Planning Spreadsheet - 40-year life projection combining net worth, cash flow, and FIRE in one file.
- Net Worth Tracker (Essentials) - The $19 starter for people who want a single sheet, no benchmark layer.
Related
- Net Worth by Age: What the Numbers Say and How to Track Yours
- Average Emergency Fund by Income Bracket (2026 Data)
- State of Personal Finance Mid-2026
- Net Worth by Generation - Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials at the same ages