What the Average Age of Millionaires in the US Reveals About Building Wealth

When you picture a millionaire, what comes to mind? Based on the latest Federal Reserve data from 2022, you might be imagining someone who’s already hit their 60s. That’s not a coincidence—the average age of millionaires in the US is 62, and this single statistic tells us something profound about how wealth actually gets built in America.

The Age Curve That Defines Millionaire Status

The Federal Reserve’s triennial household survey painted a revealing picture: only about 18% of American households have cracked the seven-figure net worth mark. That translates to roughly 23.7 million households. But here’s where age becomes the critical variable. Among households with someone in their 50s, 24.82% are millionaires. Jump to the 60-69 age bracket, and that rises to 27.51%. In contrast, just 1.05% of households with people aged 18-29 have reached millionaire status. This isn’t random—it’s the mathematical outcome of decades compounding.

The relationship between average age of millionaires in the US and their wealth isn’t coincidental; it’s the natural result of time working in their favor. Someone in their 40s has a 15.33% chance of being a millionaire, still relatively rare. But wait until your 50s, and your odds jump nearly 60% higher.

Where Do They Actually Get Their Money?

Contrary to the startup mythology, only 17% of millionaires have any small business equity. The real wealth builders relied on two unglamorous pillars: retirement accounts and home equity.

The average millionaire stashed roughly $810,000 across IRAs, 401(k)s, pensions, and similar vehicles. For those in the $1-3 million net worth bracket, that figure drops to $450,000, but it’s still substantial. The second pillar is equally important: about $743,000 in home equity for the average millionaire. Again, the $1-3 million group has around $503,000 tied up in their primary residence.

What this reveals is that millionaires didn’t need to be entrepreneurs or take extraordinary risks. They needed time, consistency, and the discipline to funnel money into tax-advantaged accounts while their mortgage payments built equity automatically. Each payment wasn’t optional—it was a forced savings mechanism that compounded into serious wealth.

The Income Picture Isn’t as Dramatic as You’d Think

Here’s where the data gets interesting for anyone intimidated by the millionaire label. The median income for millionaire households is $215,000. For those worth $1-3 million? Just $164,000. That’s comfortably above the national household median of $70,000, but it’s not astronomical, especially for dual-earner couples in their peak earning years.

This suggests that extraordinary income alone isn’t the secret. Instead, ordinary income plus consistent investing over 30-40 years is the more reliable formula. A household earning $164,000 annually in their 40s or 50s, consistently socking away 20-30% into retirement and taxable brokerage accounts, could easily hit millionaire status by the time they reach the average age of millionaires in the US.

The Demographic Reality

When you break down the distribution, the pattern is unmistakable. The bulk of millionaires cluster in the 50-plus age range. Those in their 70s represent 25.86% of millionaire households, while those in their 30s account for just 5.28%. The compounding effect of investing from age 25 to age 65 is dramatically more powerful than investing from age 45 to 65, yet most millionaires didn’t get wealthy through some secret strategy—they just stayed the course.

What This Means for You

The takeaway isn’t that you need a six-figure salary or a brilliant business idea. It’s that the average age of millionaires in the US being 62 tells us that wealth is fundamentally a function of time plus discipline. Start your retirement contributions early, maximize tax-advantaged accounts, buy a home if you can and treat it as forced savings, and then get out of your own way and let decades of compound growth do the work.

The millionaires in America weren’t necessarily the smartest investors or the most daring entrepreneurs. They were simply people who showed up consistently, invested regularly, and gave themselves 30-40 years to accumulate. That’s a playbook almost anyone can follow.