Key Takeaways
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The median U.S. household cash balance fell 6% from 2022 to 2025, after adjusting for inflation.
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Cash balances generally rise with age, with households headed by someone 75 or older holding the most.
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Couples have considerably more cash than singles, while college graduates hold far more than those with less education.
American households overall have never been richer on paper, yet the typical family’s bank balance is shrinking.
According to the (SCF), released earlier this month, the median net worth of U.S. households edged up 2% from 2022 to 2025, to more than $215,000. Yet the median family with a checking, savings, or similar account had a combined balance of about $8,200 in 2025. That’s 6% less than the $8,755 median balance they had three years earlier, after adjusting for inflation.
Nearly every family, 99%, has at least one cash account. The Federal Reserve counts checking, savings, money market, and brokerage cash accounts, along with prepaid debit cards, as one category. Certificates of deposit and retirement accounts fall into other categories.
There’s a wide spread, though, among different types of account holders, depending on how old you are and who’s in your household.
Bank Balances by Age
Cash balances climb with age, with a plateau in the middle. Families headed by someone under 35 had a median balance of $5,000 in 2025, rising to $10,000 for those ages 55 to 74. Families headed by someone 75 or older had the most, at $14,000.
The oldest households were also among the few to grow their balances since 2022. Their median balance rose 28% after adjusting for inflation, while younger households generally lost ground. Families headed by someone ages 65 to 74 saw the biggest decline, with their median balance falling by nearly a third.
The average balance comes in four to seven times higher than the medians in every age group: $20,500 for the under-35s and $97,100 for those 75 and older. Unlike the median, which represents the midpoint value, averages are driven much higher by a small number of very large balances.
Cash Held by Household Type
Not surprisingly, couples have more cash on hand than singles, whether or not they have children Couples without kids at home had a median balance of $16,600 in 2025, while couples with kids had $12,100
Single parents had the least, with a median balance of $1,900. Other single adults held somewhat more, but even those 55 and older had barely a quarter of the cash held by couples without children at home.
