Wealth is higher in California than in the rest of the US.

Wealth, or net worth, refers to what you own minus what you owe. In California, the median household had more wealth ($303,000) than those in the rest of the US overall ($200,000) in 2023, the latest year for which we have data. Some individual states, including Hawaii and Washington, have median levels of wealth similar to or higher than California’s.
Home equity and retirement savings are typically the largest assets—worth $572,000 and $104,000 at the median for those who have them. Fewer Californians have home equity (51%) or retirement accounts (62%) than checking and savings accounts (94%) or vehicle equity (84%).
California households are most likely to have credit card debt (41%) when it comes to borrowing not connected to homes, vehicles, and other property; some have education or medical (and other) debt (17% and 6%). However, education debt has the highest dollar value ($26,000 at the median among those with any).

High net worth households have substantially more wealth than low net worth households.

The wealthiest 10% of California households have net worth over $2.9 million—with at least a few hundred households having wealth that tops $1 billion. High net worth households tend to have a variety of assets, and unlike others, the majority in the top quarter have financial investments (67%) or business, rental, and real estate equity (50%).
The bottom quarter of households have less than $24,000 in wealth; about 3 in 10 have debts that outweigh their assets. In this quarter, every type of asset is less common; only 2% own homes and 27% have retirement accounts. Six in ten (57%) hold unsecured debt, with education debt most prevalent (24%).
Those near the top of the wealth distribution (80th percentile; $1.6 million) have net worth 124 times more than those near the bottom (20th percentile; $13,000). This difference is higher than in the rest of the country, where the 80th percentile is 99 times the 20th, and higher than income inequality in California.
Higher wealth is typically connected to higher income, but not always. Further, the ratio of wealth to income is not one to one. Low-wealth households in California generally have lower wealth than annual income, while high-wealth households typically have nearly 14 times as much wealth as income.

Older households have more wealth than younger households do. Those over 65 have a median net worth of $708,000, compared to $50,000 among households under 35. This reflects assets built over the life course, including home equity; older households are about three times as likely as younger households to own homes (69% vs. 21%).
Holding a college degree is also associated with higher wealth. Median net worth is $618,000 for households where at least one person holds a four-year degree, compared to $69,000 for households without.
White and Asian households have similar wealth at the median ($538,000 and $637,000), while Black households (along with Native American, multiracial, and other households) have substantially less ($101,000). Latino households have the lowest median wealth, at $56,000.
The state also sees gaps between US-born and immigrant households ($407,000 vs. $126,000), and between households headed by men and women ($387,000 vs. $235,000).
Wealth varies across the state, with estimated median values topping $1 million in parts of the Bay Area and west Los Angeles County. Communities in central Los Angeles County and Fresno County have some of the state’s lowest estimated median wealth levels.

A variety of programs—from providing assistance to first-time home buyers to seeding savings accounts, increasing financial literacy, expanding access to credit, and reducing unsecured debt—help Californians build assets and manage debt.
Most programs hold promise, but more robust evaluation is needed to confirm their effectiveness—especially across different demographic groups.