American households got a little richer in the first quarter of 2026. Just barely.
The Federal Reserve’s Z.1 Financial Accounts report, released June 11, shows that US household net worth ticked up in Q1 2026, but at the slowest pace in a year. The culprit: stock market declines ate into portfolio values even as real estate and other assets quietly gained ground.
For context, Q4 2025 was a much better story. Household and nonprofit net worth climbed by $2.2 trillion that quarter, reaching a total of $184.1 trillion. The Q1 2026 number represents a sharp deceleration from that pace.
What happened to household balance sheets
The quarter played out like a tug-of-war between two sides of the typical American balance sheet. On one side, real estate values and non-equity assets pushed wealth higher. On the other, corporate equity values pulled it back down.
