{
  "endpoint": "net-worth",
  "inputs": {
    "cash": 0,
    "investments": 0,
    "retirement": 0,
    "home": 0,
    "vehicles": 0,
    "otherAssets": 0,
    "mortgage": 0,
    "autoLoans": 0,
    "studentLoans": 0,
    "creditCards": 0,
    "otherDebts": 0,
    "age": 0
  },
  "result": {
    "netWorth": 0,
    "totalAssets": 0,
    "totalLiabilities": 0,
    "negative": false,
    "liquidAssets": 0,
    "liquidNetWorth": 0,
    "homeEquity": 0,
    "underwater": false,
    "debtToAssetPct": null,
    "liquidSharePct": null,
    "assetMix": [],
    "benchmark": null,
    "allFamilies": {
      "median": 192700,
      "mean": 1059470,
      "meanToMedianRatio": 5.5,
      "surveyYear": 2022,
      "dollarYear": 2022,
      "source": "Federal Reserve, 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, table 4 (family net worth by selected characteristics)"
    }
  },
  "notes": [
    "**Quote the median, not the mean.** Net worth is among the most skewed quantities in household finance, so its average describes almost nobody: across all US families in the 2022 SCF the mean is $1,059,470 against a median of $192,700 — the mean is **5.5×** the median, pulled there by the top of the distribution. Every \"average net worth by age\" figure in circulation is a mean. This endpoint returns both, and `meanToMedianRatio` so the difference is visible rather than implied.",
    "**The benchmark figures are 2022 dollars from a 2022 survey, and this endpoint does not pretend they are today's.** The SCF runs every three years and the Board states that the 2022 survey \"is the most recent survey conducted\". Comparing a present-day balance sheet against a 2022-dollar benchmark flatters the present-day one, so `surveyYear` and `dollarYear` travel with every comparison. Nothing here inflates them to a current year — that would invent figures the Federal Reserve never published.",
    "Every figure was transcribed from the Fed's own published workbook (table 4, \"Family net worth, by selected characteristics of families, 1989–2022 surveys\"), not from a secondary summary: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/files/scf2022_tables_public_real_historical.xlsx",
    "The age bands are the Federal Reserve's own and are not evenly sized (`Less than 35`, then 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65–74, `75 or more`). They are reproduced as published rather than re-cut, because re-cutting them needs data the summary table does not carry.",
    "A negative net worth is a normal starting point, not a failure state: a new graduate with student loans or a recent buyer with a fresh mortgage will often show one for years. `negative` is reported as a fact about the balance sheet, and nothing in this response treats it as a verdict.",
    "Assets are counted at what they would sell for today, not at what they cost. That is why a car normally pulls this number down year over year, and why nothing here applies appreciation, depreciation or a growth rate — net worth is a snapshot, and projecting it forward would be a forecast wearing a measurement's clothes.",
    "`retirement` counts toward `netWorth` but not toward `liquidAssets`, and `home` counts toward neither `liquidAssets` nor `liquidNetWorth`. A household can be comfortably positive and still unable to cover a $400 emergency — use /api/v1/emergency-fund for that question."
  ],
  "meta": {
    "source": "https://farbetteroff.com",
    "calculator": "https://farbetteroff.com/calculators/net-worth-calculator",
    "docs": "https://farbetteroff.com/api/v1",
    "dataVintage": [
      {
        "id": "fed-scf",
        "publisher": "Federal Reserve Board",
        "edition": "Changes in U.S. Family Finances from 2019 to 2022",
        "dataYear": 2022,
        "cycleYears": 3,
        "supersededFrom": "2026-12-01",
        "source": "https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm"
      }
    ],
    "disclaimer": "Educational estimate, not financial advice."
  }
}