What Net Worth Puts You In The Upper, Middle, and Lower Class?

Back in late 2024, Charles Schwab released their Modern Wealth Survey, which found that Americans think you need a whopping $2.5 million in net worth to be wealthy or to be considered upper class. But is that right, guys? I am so excited to talk about this because the conversation around wealth is clouded with misconceptions, arbitrary benchmarks, and outdated thinking.

Today, we’re cutting through all of that to give you the actual data of what net worth really puts you in different wealth classes. The truth might surprise you, and it might change how you think about your own financial journey. But before diving in, note that these statistics vary based on data sources and calculation methods. Our figures are approximations from the most recent Survey of Consumer Finances and the Richmond Fed data, inflation-adjusted into today’s dollars.

We’re measuring total net worth—that’s assets minus liabilities—which notably includes home equity. This means someone might appear to be upper class on paper because they bought a home decades ago and it’s appreciated significantly, yet they may have limited liquid assets for retirement. This distinction is crucial because while your net worth may look substantial, having wealth tied up in your primary residence really limits your financial flexibility. As the saying goes, you can’t eat a house.

By the way, if you want to calculate your own net worth before we start so you can see where you’re at as we go through this, we have a Net Worth Tool available at moneyguy.com/resources. It’s absolutely free and will help you get a clear picture of your current financial standing.

The Bottom 25%
In dollar terms, this means a net worth below $29,300.

As far as who typically falls into this bracket, it includes people with financial challenges, such as those with little to no savings, folks with very high debt-to-asset ratios like recent graduates with large student loans, and a number of young adults who are just starting out in their wealth-building journey.

If you find yourself in this category, don’t be discouraged. There is a clear path forward, and it starts with focusing on both sides of the net worth equation. On the liability side, prioritize eliminating high-interest debt like credit cards and personal loans. On the asset side, start building your emergency fund, then your retirement accounts, and then expand into other types of investments.

Here’s something that might surprise you: even small actions can have a tremendous impact over time. A monthly investment of just $160 growing at 8% can become $29,300 after 10 years. That’s a very small sum over a relatively short period of time. So even starting from zero, there’s a very clear and achievable path to moving through and beyond this bottom 25% threshold with disciplined saving and investing.

The Middle Class
The middle class represents the broadest wealth band, stretching from $29,300 in net worth all the way up to $714,000 in net worth. This range is huge and easily the most varied, covering everything from the 25th percentile all the way to the 75th percentile of Americans financially.

Because this range is so wide, it’s helpful to break it down further into lower middle and upper middle categories:

• Lower Middle Class: $29,300 to $209,000 (25th to 50th percentile)

• Upper Middle Class: $209,000 to $714,000 (50th to 75th percentile)

The lower middle class typically includes established professionals in their 30s and 40s with steady careers and growing retirement accounts, homeowners who have built equity over time through mortgage payments and appreciation, and maybe those that have some lingering liabilities and low-interest student loans.

The upper middle class is still widely varied, but these folks have generally passed what we call the boiling point—that critical threshold where their money is doing a lot of the heavy lifting. At this stage, wealth journeys start looking similar in the day-to-day, even though the numbers on paper remain wide-ranging. This group often represents households with significant retirement savings, substantial home equity, and the ability to weather financial emergencies without significant strain. Their financial concerns are shifting from basic security toward optimizing what they’ve built.

For those in the lower middle class looking to level up, focus on maximizing retirement contributions—especially if you have an employer match—and look for opportunities to increase income through career advancement or even side hustles. If you’re in the upper middle class and want to continue climbing, it might be time to be more intentional with optimizing your investment strategy by thinking through tax-efficient vehicles beyond just basic retirement accounts and maybe beginning to implement advanced tax planning strategies so that you can preserve more of your growing wealth.

The Upper Class
When we talk about the upper class in terms of wealth, we’re really looking at households in the 75th to 90th percentile range. Those are folks with net worth between $714,000 and approximately $2.1 million.

This group typically includes successful career professionals who’ve accumulated significant assets over decades of work, business owners with established companies and diversified investments, or households with substantial retirement savings and investment portfolios. It could even be people who have benefited from real estate appreciation over a long time horizon.

For most in this bracket, wealth provides significant financial security. Many can consider early retirement, and their financial concerns typically shift from basic security to wealth preservation and legacy planning.

Important Context
It’s crucial to understand what these numbers don’t do. First and foremost, they don’t define you as a person. As we like to say, it’s a diagnosis, not a sentence. If you find yourself in one of the lower percentiles, that’s not an indictment for some great personal failing. It’s simply saying, “Here’s where you are right now. Where can we go from here? And where do we want to go from here?”

Another crucial factor these raw numbers don’t account for is age. Net worth typically increases throughout your working life. So comparing yourself to these overall statistics without considering your life stage could be misleading.

The median net worth by age group is:

• Under 35: $39,000

• Ages 35–44: $135,000

• Ages 45–54: $246,700

• Ages 55–64: $364,000

• Ages 65–74: $410,000

• Ages 75+: $335,000

This age context completely transforms how we should interpret these class-based numbers. For example, if you’re 18 and you’ve saved and invested $27,000 from working part-time jobs, you’re technically in the bottom 25th percentile based on overall stats, but you’re way ahead of your peers. Likewise, a 75-year-old with a net worth of $750,000 may be labeled “upper class,” but that label doesn’t necessarily guarantee financial security for their stage of life.

The Takeaway
These statistics give you a benchmark because you can’t know where you’re going without knowing where you are. They provide concrete milestones to aim for as you save and invest, and they help you understand the broader financial landscape in which you’re operating.

Wealth building is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires discipline, money, and time—the three magical ingredients that transform modest savings into significant wealth. Whether you’re in the lower, middle, or upper class by these definitions, the principles remain the same: live on less than you make, invest the difference wisely, and give your money time to grow.

The beauty of understanding these benchmarks isn’t about comparing yourself to others—it’s about gaining clarity on your own financial journey and recognizing that, with the right habits and enough time, meaningful wealth is achievable for most Americans. What matters most isn’t the label you carry, but the trajectory you’re on for tomorrow.

So calculate your net worth, understand where you stand, make a plan to improve it consistently over time, and remember: financial success isn’t about reaching some arbitrary number—it’s about building the resources you need to live the life you want and building toward your great big beautiful tomorrow.