The median American family — the exact middle between the wealthiest and the poorest — had the same amount of money in 2010 as it did in 1992, according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finance, an extensive and detailed look at American wealth undertaken every three years. While the latest data is 18 months old, it underscores the astonishing economic devastation wreaked by the Great Recession, which, beginning in 2007, swept away a chunk of the wealth accumulated since the early 1990s. (The Fed defines "wealth" as income plus assets — like homes, cars, and stocks — minus debts.) Here, a numerical look at the average family's struggles:
$126,400
Net worth of the median American family in 2007
$77,300
Net worth of the median family in 2010
40
Percentage drop in wealth over that three-year period
$95,300
Median home equity — the value of a house minus what is owed on the mortgage — in 2007
$55,000
Median home equity in 2010
42.3
Percentage drop of home equity since the start of the recession
$49,600
Income of the median family in 2007
$45,800
Median family income in 2010, an 8 percent drop
$3,100
Median credit card balance in 2007
$2,600
Median credit card balance in 2010, a 16 percent decline
15.2
Median percentage of debt that was education-related in 2007
19.2
Median percentage of education-related debt in 2010
7
Percentage of Americans late on their debt payments in 2007
11
Percentage late on payments in 2010
$49,600
Median value of stock-based retirement plan in 2007
$44,000
Median stock-based retirement plan in 2010, a 7 percent plunge
Sources: Associated Press, Federal Reserve, The New York Times, The Washington Post
