Fed Survey: Median Family Income and Net Worth Up in 2025, Debt Payments and Delinquencies Rise

American families’ typical income and wealth were modestly higher in 2025 than in 2022, but debt burdens and payment troubles also increased sharply, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances.

The Federal Reserve Board released the 2025 survey results Friday along with a staff report on changes in U.S. family finances from 2022 to 2025. The Fed said real median family income, adjusted for inflation to 2025 dollars, rose 7% to $82,200. Real mean family income, however, fell 6% to $145,200. Real median net worth increased 2% to $215,900, while real mean net worth rose 7% to $1.24 million.

The most notable signs of strain were in debt payments and delinquencies. The Fed said the median debt payment-to-income ratio rose to 15.4%, up 2 percentage points from 2022. The share of families devoting more than 40% of income to debt payments climbed to 8.6% from 6.5%, a level the report said was last seen in 2013. At the same time, the share of families reporting they were behind on loan payments rose from about 12% in 2022 to almost 20% in 2025, and the share that was two months late or more increased from 5% to more than 8%.

The survey’s broader balance-sheet picture was mixed. Homeownership was 66% in 2025, about unchanged from 2022, while homeowners’ median net housing value rose to $230,000 from $218,900. Retirement-plan participation edged up to about 65%, and among families with account-type plans, both mean and median balances increased. Stock market participation slipped to 56% from 58%, but among families that owned stocks, median holdings jumped 36% to $77,400 from $56,900. On the debt side, the share of families with any debt was roughly steady at 77%, and overall median and mean debt balances were largely unchanged. But mortgage balances on primary residences increased, with median mortgage debt rising to $183,600 from $170,200, and mean mortgage debt rising to $239,700 from $232,500. Credit card debt also increased: median balances rose $150 to $3,100, and mean balances rose $1,300 to $8,000.

Some debt measures improved. Student-debt prevalence fell to 20%, down 2 percentage points from 2022. Among families with student debt, balances declined to a median of $25,600 and a mean of $43,000. And among debtors, median leverage — debt relative to assets — continued to decline, to 26.9%.

The Survey of Consumer Finances is the Fed’s benchmark survey of household income, assets, debts, pensions and credit use, and the modern version has been conducted every three years since 1989. The 2025 survey interviewed 4,367 families, with data collection carried out by NORC at the University of Chicago. Most interviews were conducted between April and December 2025, with about one-seventh completed between January and May 2026. The survey is designed to capture both typical households and very wealthy families, one reason median and mean figures can move in different directions.

In announcing the release, the Fed said the survey “provides the public and policymakers with detailed insights into the economic condition of American families.” Its staff report concluded that despite mean wealth rising faster than median wealth, “On balance, wealth inequality appears little changed since 2022.”