# How much money do Americans have?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-money-do-americans-have/239993>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 14, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-money-do-americans-have/239993 "2004-04-14T16:57:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-money-do-americans-have/239993/1 "2004-04-14T16:57:22Z")

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I read something a few days ago - can’t remember exact numbers - about the net worth of American families. It was kind of staggering, in that the numbers were so low. Anyone have any statistics on this?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-money-do-americans-have/239993/2 "2004-04-14T17:59:58Z")

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“The net worth of American families” could mean many different things. The total wealth owned by all Americans must be fairly large. The figure I recall is $44 trillion dollars. Of course it is possible for the median wealth of American households to be negative, since wealth is concentrated in a small proportion of the population.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-money-do-americans-have/239993/3 "2004-04-14T18:29:50Z")

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Speaking for just _this_ American, the answer is: **NOT ENOUGH!** 😃

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**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\
**Post date:** [April 14, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-money-do-americans-have/239993/4 "2004-04-14T18:55:45Z")

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Well, I have $7 on me right now.

Remember that it is also possible to have a net worth in the negatives if you have a lot of debt. So that could be one of the reasons.