Some Better Off, More Worse Off

TaxProfBlog reports Census Bureau data on household wealth, which is defined as the sum of the market value of assets (including, but not limited to, cash and cash equivalents) owned by all members of the household minus liabilities owed. Census says:

Median household net worth decreased by $5,046, or 6.8 percent, between 2000 and 2011. ... Between 2000 and 2011, experiences of households varied widely depending on their net worth quintile (See the linked article for Figure 1). Median household net worth decreased by $5,124 for households in the first (bottom) net worth quintile, $7,056 (or 49.3 percent) for the second quintile, and $5,072 (or 6.9 percent) for the third quintile. Median household net worth increased by $18,433 (or 9.8 percent) for households in the fourth quintile, and by $61,379 (or 10.8 percent) for households in the highest (top) quintile.

In sum, the bottom sixty percent of households are worse off than 14 years ago. The top 40% are better off now than in 2000. These numbers reflect the "hollowing out" phenomenon detailed in the post immediately below.