Wealth in California

Wealth is higher in California than in the rest of the US.

• Wealth, or net worth, refers to what you own minus what you owe. In California, the median household had more wealth ($303,000) than those in the rest of the US overall ($200,000) in 2023, the latest year for which we have data. Some individual states, including Hawaii and Washington, have median levels of wealth similar to or higher than California's.
• Home equity and retirement savings are typically the largest assets-worth $572,000 and $104,000 at the median for those who have them. Fewer Californians have home equity (51%) or retirement accounts (62%) than checking and savings accounts (94%) or vehicle equity (84%).
• California households are most likely to have credit card debt (41%) when it comes to borrowing not connected to homes, vehicles, and other property; some have education or medical (and other) debt (17% and 6%). However, education debt has the highest dollar value ($26,000 at the median among those with any).

High net worth households have substantially more wealth than low net worth households.

• The wealthiest 10% of California households have net worth over $2.9 million-with at least a few hundred households having wealth that tops $1 billion. High net worth households tend to have a variety of assets, and unlike others, the majority in the top quarter have financial investments (67%) or business, rental, and real estate equity (50%).
• The bottom quarter of households have less than $24,000 in wealth; about 3 in 10 have debts that outweigh their assets. In this quarter, every type of asset is less common; only 2% own homes and 27% have retirement accounts. Six in ten (57%) hold unsecured debt, with education debt most prevalent (24%).
• Those near the top of the wealth distribution (80th percentile; $1.6 million) have net worth 124 times more than those near the bottom (20th percentile; $13,000). This difference is higher than in the rest of the country, where the 80th percentile is 99 times the 20th, and higher than income inequality in California.
• Higher wealth is typically connected to higher income, but not always. Further, the ratio of wealth to income is not one to one. Low-wealth households in California generally have lower wealth than annual income, while high-wealth households typically have nearly 14 times as much wealth as income.