How This Calculator Works
Fill in the two columns. Everything you own goes in the assets section at what it would fetch if you sold it today; every balance you still owe goes in the liabilities section. The result updates as you type, and nothing is sent anywhere — this page is static HTML and the arithmetic runs entirely in your browser, so no figure you enter leaves your device.
Underneath the headline number, the balance sheet panel shows what share each line item represents of its own side, which is usually more revealing than the total. The chart next to it stacks both sides by category so you can see at a glance whether your wealth is concentrated in one place. Below that, the comparison panel puts your figure next to Federal Reserve survey data for your age group, and the projection panel carries it forward a decade.
The Net Worth Formula
There is only one equation, and it does not get more complicated than this:
The calculator also derives three figures that the raw total hides. Home equity is your primary home's value minus the mortgage against it — for most households this is the single largest component of net worth, and seeing it separately explains a lot. Net worth excluding home equity strips that out, which matters because you cannot spend a house without selling or borrowing against it. And the debt-to-asset ratio divides what you owe by what you own:
Two households can share the same net worth while one holds it in cash and the other in a heavily mortgaged property. The ratio is what separates them.
What Counts as an Asset
An asset is anything you own that could be turned into money. The categories in this calculator cover almost everyone:
Net worth counts what your investments are worth; it says nothing about how they are split. Two people with identical portfolio values can be carrying very different risk, which our portfolio allocation calculator will show.
- Primary home, holiday home, other real estate — at current market value, not purchase price and not the tax assessment, which often lags the market by a wide margin.
- Shares and investments — brokerage balances, index funds, individual stocks, bonds.
- Retirement accounts — 401(k), 403(b), IRA and Roth IRA balances. These are assets and belong in the total even though you cannot spend them yet; the separate net worth excluding home equity and liquid assets lines are there precisely so you can see what is and is not reachable today.
- Other investments — business ownership stakes, crypto holdings, cash-value life insurance, and anything else invested that has no box of its own.
- Savings and checking accounts — the balances as of today, including any money market or emergency fund.
- Motor vehicles — at resale value. A car bought for $40,000 three years ago is not a $40,000 asset.
- Other assets — anything else worth enough to matter: jewelry, art, collectibles, equipment, money owed to you.
What does not belong here is income. Your salary is not an asset; it is the flow that produces assets once some of it survives the month. Nor does everyday property that would not realistically be sold — listing furniture and clothing adds noise without changing anything meaningful.
What Counts as a Liability
A liability is any outstanding balance you are obliged to repay. Use the balance, never the original loan amount and never the monthly payment.
- Mortgage — the remaining principal on your home loan, plus any second mortgage or home equity line.
- Car loan and lease purchase — what is left to pay on vehicles.
- Student loan — federal and private balances together.
- Personal loan, consumer loan, credit card and overdraft — all unsecured borrowing, including buy-now-pay-later balances and anything carried month to month.
- Other debt — medical bills in repayment, business loans, tax owed, payday or title loans, and informal debts to family or friends, which people routinely forget and which are still real obligations.
Note how assets and liabilities pair up. The house is an asset and its mortgage is a liability; they are entered separately rather than netted, because seeing the size of the mortgage on its own is part of the point.
Median vs. Average: Why the Benchmark Changes the Answer
The comparison panel shows three reference points for each age group, and the gap between them is the most misunderstood thing in personal finance statistics.
Across all US families in the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, the median net worth was about $192,700 while the average was roughly $1.06 million. Both figures are correct. The median describes the household sitting in the exact middle of the distribution; the average divides total wealth by the number of households, so a small number of extremely wealthy families drag it upward. Wealth is concentrated enough in the United States that the average is roughly five and a half times the median.
Use the median when you want to know whether you are ahead of a typical household. Use the average only when you want to know how much wealth exists per household, which is a different question and rarely the one people mean. The third line, the top-10% threshold, is included because it answers the question people are usually circling around: what it actually takes to be in the top tenth. For all ages that was about $1.94 million in 2022.
One caveat on all three: the survey runs every three years, and the 2022 wave is the most recent completed one. Asset prices have moved since then, so treat these as a well-measured reference point rather than a live reading.
Reading Your Debt-to-Asset Ratio
The ratio compresses your whole balance sheet into one number. Below roughly 30% is a comfortable position with plenty of cushion. Between 30% and 50% is typical for a household in the middle of a mortgage and is not a problem on its own. Above 70% means most of what you own is financed rather than owned outright, and a fall in asset values — a housing dip, a market correction — would push you toward negative territory quickly.
What the ratio does not capture is the cost of the debt. A 45% ratio made up mostly of a low-rate mortgage is a very different situation from the same 45% carried on credit cards. Look at the balance sheet panel alongside the ratio: where the liabilities sit matters as much as how large they are.
How to Increase Your Net Worth
Only two levers exist, and every piece of advice is a variation on one of them: grow the asset side or shrink the liability side.
- Widen the gap between income and spending. Net worth grows out of the surplus, not out of the income. Raising income without raising the surplus changes nothing.
- Clear expensive debt first. Paying off a balance costing 22% a year is a guaranteed 22% return, which no investment offers with certainty. Cheap debt is a lower priority.
- Automate contributions. Money moved to savings or investments on payday compounds; money left in checking tends to get spent.
- Use tax-advantaged accounts. A workplace match is an immediate return on the money contributed, and tax deferral compounds on top of that.
- Do not confuse spending with acquiring. A financed depreciating item raises liabilities immediately and adds an asset that is losing value from day one.
The projection panel makes the arithmetic concrete: change the annual savings figure and watch how much of the ten-year result comes from what you add versus what compounds.
What This Calculator Does Not Cover
- Taxes on unrealized gains. Investment and property values are entered gross. Selling would trigger capital gains tax in a taxable account, so the after-tax figure is lower than what appears here.
- Selling costs. Agent commission, closing costs and transaction fees are real and are not deducted from the property values you enter.
- Future pension and Social Security income. These are valuable but are income streams rather than balance-sheet assets, so they sit outside the calculation entirely.
- Inflation. The projection is in nominal dollars, so a decade of price rises quietly erodes what the final figure can actually purchase.
- Market variability. The projection applies one smooth annual rate. Real portfolios do not deliver the same return every year, and the order of good and bad years changes outcomes.
- Debt paydown in the projection. The ten-year view grows your current net worth and adds savings; it does not separately model a mortgage amortizing away. Fold extra principal payments into the annual savings figure if you want them counted.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should be included in net worth?
Everything you own that could be converted to cash, and everything you owe. On the asset side that means your home and any other property, vehicles, savings and checking balances, brokerage and retirement accounts, and valuables worth enough to bother listing. On the liability side it means every outstanding balance: mortgage, car loan, student loans, credit cards, personal loans, and anything owed to family. Assets are entered at what you could realistically sell them for today, not what you paid.
Is a 401(k) or IRA part of your net worth?
Yes. Retirement accounts are assets and belong in the total, entered at their current balance. Some people prefer to also track a second figure that excludes retirement money, because those balances are not accessible without penalty before retirement age and so do not help with a nearer-term goal. Both views are useful; just be consistent about which one you are comparing over time.
Does your salary count toward net worth?
No. Income is a flow, net worth is a stock. Your salary is what arrives each month, while net worth is what has accumulated from every dollar that arrived and was not spent. This is why a high earner can have a lower net worth than someone earning half as much: what matters is the gap between income and spending, and how long that gap has been compounding.
What is a good net worth for my age?
There is no single right number, but the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances gives a usable reference point. In the 2022 survey the median family net worth was about $39,040 under 35, $135,300 at 35–44, $246,700 at 45–54, $364,270 at 55–64, $410,000 at 65–74 and $334,700 at 75 and older. Treat those as a compass rather than a grade — cost of living, career stage and whether you own a home move the number far more than age alone.
Should I include my car in my net worth?
Yes, at its current resale value rather than its purchase price. Vehicles are real assets, but they are depreciating ones, and the loan against a car often shrinks more slowly than the car's value does. That combination is exactly why some households are surprised by a negative or near-zero net worth despite owning things: the asset side is falling while the liability side barely moves.
What does a negative net worth mean?
It means your debts currently exceed the value of what you own. It is common early in adult life, particularly with student loans or a new mortgage on a house that has not appreciated yet, and it is not by itself a sign of poor financial management. What matters more is the direction of travel: a negative figure that is shrinking every year is a healthier signal than a positive one that is drifting downward.
How often should I calculate my net worth?
Once a quarter is plenty for most people, and once a year is enough if your finances are stable. Checking more often than that mostly captures market noise rather than progress. The value comes from the trend line across several readings, so use the same asset valuations and the same categories each time; consistency matters more than precision.
Is home equity or the full home value used in net worth?
Both, in different places. Enter the full market value of the home as an asset and the outstanding mortgage as a liability — the difference between them is your home equity, and it flows into net worth automatically. Entering equity directly instead would give the same net worth but would hide the size of the mortgage, which is worth seeing on its own.
This calculator is provided for general educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax or legal advice. Asset valuations you enter are estimates, and results will differ from any figure a lender, tax authority or financial institution produces. Benchmark data is from the Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances (released October 2023), expressed in 2022 dollars. Consider speaking with a licensed financial professional about decisions specific to your situation.