The wealthiest 10% of Americans are pulling ahead of everyone else. This is what’s making them richer.

The wealthiest 10% of Americans are pulling ahead of everyone else. This is what’s making them richer. The wealthiest 10% have a median net worth that is $800,000 greater than it was three years ago Even as many Americans earned more after the pandemic, little of it turned into wealth. /iStockphoto Even in the face of rising costs, Americans’ real median net worth managed to rise by 2% from 2022 to 2025, according to data from the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances.

Yet to truly feel like you are getting ahead in the postpandemic economy, it has helped to be among the wealthiest 10% of Americans, whose median net worth shot up by 19%, after adjusting for inflation, during that time. Copyright ©2026 MarketWatch, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Billionaires aren’t off the hook for higher taxes, even if they did dodge California’s wealth tax Two months after my father’s funeral, my stepmother asked me to repay his $40,000 wedding gift.

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How to navigate a market that hinges on just a handful of companies The wealthiest 10% of Americans are pulling ahead of everyone else. Venessa Wong is a personal finance reporter for MarketWatch based in New York City. She writes about family finances, young investors and wealth building.

Venessa previously worked at BuzzFeed News and Bloomberg, and is a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and Middlebury College. Intraday Data provided by FACTSET and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by FACTSET.

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