The median net worth of households in the United States went from $126,400 US Dollars (USD) in 2007 to $77,300 USD in 2010, according to the US Census Bureau. People of all ages and levels of educational attainment saw a hit to their net worth during this time, but individuals who had only a high school education lost more wealth. In 2010, 74.9% of households also had debt, although both debt levels and the use of credit cards had declined since 2007.
Read more about household wealth:
- The percentage of families that said they had put money into savings dropped more than 4 percentage points from 2007 to 2010.
- Income levels played a key role in household net worth. Households in the top 10% income bracket saw an increase in wealth from 2007 to 2010.
- Experts place much of the blame on the drop in net worth on real estate prices. In fact, when analysts disregarded home equity, they observed that net worth actually increased by 8% from 2009 to 2010.