Median Homeowner Net Worth Hits $400,000 While for Renters Its $10,400

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Dec 16, 8:15AM EST

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Median Homeowner Net Worth Hits $400,000 While for Renters Its $10,400 — © monkeybusinessimages / iStock via Getty Images

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

The gulf in net worth between homeowners and renters is huge. According to a new Aspen Institute study, $400,000 is the net worth for homeowners, but it is only $10,400 for renters. The primary reason is the equity homeowners have built in their houses. This is about half their total homeowner advantage.

24/7 Wall St. Key Points:

A recent analysis reveals that the gulf in net worth between homeowners and renters is huge.
The demographics of the two groups are distinct as well.
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There is a difference between the demographics of homeowners and renters. The authors of the study report, “Today’s 45 million renters in the United States are relatively young and diverse, representing the future of our economy.”

Renters have a median age of 42. Owners have a median age of 57. Renters have a median annual income of $40,291. Homeowners have a median yearly net worth of $92,310. Education is also a factor. Among renters, 30.7% have bachelor’s degrees or higher. The comparable figure for owners is 42.5%.

The bridge from renting to owning is difficult. Fifty-four percent of owners had positive cash flow in 2023. The figure was 39% for renters.

The path to ownership has probably gotten harder recently. However, the Aspen Institute does not analyze this. Mortgage rates are over 6% today. Three years ago, that was closer to 3%. This can add hundreds of dollars to mortgage payments. The average home price was $371,000 in early 2020. It is $502,00 today, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

As home prices continue to rise, the number of renters who turn to owners could fall.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.