American Wealth Is at a Record High. Sentiment Is Low, and Falling.

America is more prosperous than ever.U.S.household net worth reached a new peak at the end of 2024.

The unemployment rate has levitated just above record lows for three years.The overall debt that households are carrying compared with the assets they own is also near a record low.But even a land of plenty has its shortcomings, influencing both perceptions and realities of how Americans are doing.The U.S.

economy remains deeply unequal, with vast gaps in wealth and financial security persisting even as inflation has ebbed and incomes have risen.And data designed to capture the overall population may be obscuring challenges experienced by a broad range of Americans, especially those in the bottom half of the wealth or income spectrum.The share of wealth held by families in the top 10 percent has reached 69 percent, while the share held by families in the bottom 50 percent is only 6 percent, according to the latest reading from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

(When future income claims from Social Security benefits are excluded, the bottom 50 percent hold only 3 percent of total wealth.)And while wealth has risen for the less wealthy half of the population in recent years, much of the uptick has been locked up in what financial analysts call “illiquid assets” — gains in home prices and stock portfolios — which are not easily translated into cash to pay for bills and expenses that are much higher than they were a few years ago....