Just How Much Does America's 1% Have In Savings?

According to a new analysis of Federal Reserve and FDIC data by Magnify Money, the median American household has around $11,700 in savings between bank accounts and retirement savings – meaning 50% of Americans have less than $11,700 in savings, and 50% have more. The average American household, however, has saved $175,510 – a vastly different figure.

This data is largely meaningless from 10,000 feet.

The disparity between median and average savings can be explained by math; the ultra-rich, who are essentially outliers, skew the average higher – while the median figure is the midpoint between all savers.

In other words, while headlines quoting averages suggest that savings rates for all Americans are improving dramatically thanks to recent upward revisions – the reality is that most of the gains have gone to the top.

Because of this, it’s far more useful to look at savings rates through certain “demographic prisms” such as age and income – at which point the data becomes much more relevant. To that end, Magnify Money‘s Chris Horymski puts things in perspective. From his analysis we learn:

The median top 1% of households by income have $1.15 million in savings, while over 50% of low-income households have no savings.

The median baby boomer household and those born before 1946 has roughly $97,120 saved, while the median GenXer has $43,000. Millennials have a median savings of just $9,230.

In looking at the charts below, the “median vs. average” skew can even be observed even within “demographic prisms”:

The average top 1% of households have roughly $2.5 million saved, while the average savings among the bottom 20% of earners sits at $8,720 – clearly not reflecting the fact that over half of low-income households actually have no savings at all.