There’s now a record number of American millionaires — but their wealth isn’t worth what it used to be, a new report reveals.
In the U.S., the average household net worth has surpassed $1 million, and about 16 percent of families have seen their wealth grow beyond that milestone, according to an analysis of federal data by The Washington Post.
But $1 million is worth much less than it was just a few decades ago. For example, $1 million in 1996 had the same buying power as $2.1 million today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator.
Now, it seems many American millionaires don't see themselves as particularly rich. About 64 percent of Americans with at least $1 million in investable assets said they do not consider themselves “wealthy,” according to Northwestern Mutual’s 2025 Planning & Progress Study.
Nathan Winklepleck, a financial adviser with Donaldson Capital Management in Indiana, said the million-dollar mark is a “milestone,” but it “doesn’t mean you’re super wealthy anymore,” according to The Washington Post.
“It’s not quite what it used to be in terms of rarefied status,” he told the newspaper.
Martin Xu, a 27-year-old Seattle resident who works in software, told The Washington Post he hit $1 million last year but still lives by himself in a “small, simple apartment” and typically cooks at home.
“It’s a really nice milestone,” he added. “But of course a million dollars then isn’t what it is now. I don’t have the $1 million my dad was talking about all those years ago.”
The cost of housing is also on the rise. There are more than 230 cities in the U.S. where a starter home costs $1 million or more, according to a 2025 Zillow report. While many of these cities are concentrated in California, New Jersey and New York, they can be found all over the U.S.
“To be sure, California still has the most cities with $1 million starter homes by a wide margin (113), but exactly half of U.S. states have at least one such city — including Minnesota and Rhode Island, which joined the list in the past year,” Zillow’s report states.
This comes amid growing concern about a widening wealth gap in the U.S. The top 1 percent in the U.S. grew their wealth by about $5 trillion last year, and now collectively have about $55 trillion, which amounts to nearly the entire wealth of the bottom 90 percent, according to Federal Reserve data released in January.
The U.S. is also home to an estimated 989 billionaires, which is a new record, Forbes reported last month.
