How the result is calculated
Net worth is a household balance sheet reduced to one number: the value of everything you own, minus everything you owe. The Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances, the most detailed study of household wealth in the United States, defines it in exactly those terms, as the difference between a family's assets and its liabilities. The calculator follows the survey's broad categories on both sides.
net worthA − L
- A
- assets: cash, investments, retirement accounts, your home, other property, vehicles and other assets
- L
- liabilities: the mortgage, other property loans, car loans and leases, student loans, card balances and other debts
Three further figures come from the same entries. Home equity is your home's value less its mortgage. Liquid net worth is cash and investments less card balances and other debts: roughly what you could reach within weeks if you had to. Debt to assets is total debts as a share of total assets, a measure of how much of what you hold is borrowed.
Worked example
| Item | Amount | How it is obtained |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and savings | $15,000 | asset |
| Investments | $40,000 | asset |
| Retirement accounts | $85,000 | asset |
| Your home | $350,000 | asset |
| Vehicles and other assets | $23,000 | 18,000 + 5,000 |
| Total assets, A | $513,000 | sum of the above |
| Mortgage | $240,000 | debt |
| Car loan, student loan, cards | $24,000 | 9,000 + 12,000 + 3,000 |
| Total debts, L | $264,000 | sum of the debts |
| Net worth | $249,000 | 513,000 − 264,000 |
Home equity is 110,000 of that, and liquid net worth is 52,000: the 15,000 of cash and 40,000 of investments less the 3,000 on cards. Debts are 51% of assets.
| Item | Amount | How it is obtained |
|---|---|---|
| Total assets, A | $18,000 | 6,000 cash + 4,000 pension + 8,000 car |
| Total debts, L | $38,500 | 5,000 car loan + 32,000 student + 1,500 cards |
| Net worth | −$20,500 | 18,000 − 38,500 |
A negative figure here is normal and says little on its own; what matters is the direction it moves in over the next few years.
Reading the result
The headline is your net worth, with total assets and total debts beneath it. The three tiles split it into the parts that behave differently. Home equity is often most of a homeowner's net worth, and it is the hardest part to spend. Liquid net worth is closer to what protects you in an emergency. Debt to assets shows how leveraged the balance sheet is: a figure near 100% means almost everything you hold is matched by something you owe.
The two charts show the make-up of each side. A balance sheet where one asset, usually the home, is three quarters of everything is more exposed to that one price than its total suggests. The tables list every non-zero category with its share.
What changes the result
The valuations change the answer more than anything else. A home valued at its asking price rather than a realistic sale price, or a car at what was paid for it, inflates net worth by money you would never see. Use recent sale prices of similar homes, and a resale valuation for a vehicle.
Debts must be entered as the balance outstanding, not the payments left. A 240,000 mortgage with twenty years to run costs far more than 240,000 in payments, but 240,000 is what clears it today, which is the figure a balance sheet needs.
Paying off a debt from savings does not change net worth at all: an asset and a liability fall by the same amount. It does change liquid net worth and debt to assets, and it usually saves interest, which is how net worth grows afterwards.
What is not included
Pension promises without a balance, a state pension or a defined-benefit scheme, are left out, as they are in the Federal Reserve's measure, although for many people they are worth more than any account they hold. Tax that would be due on selling investments or a second property is not deducted, nor are agents' and legal fees on selling a home. Personal possessions are included only if you add them under other assets; most measures leave them out unless they are valuable and saleable. And net worth says nothing about income: a high earner with a negative net worth and a retiree with a large one face very different futures.
Using the result
Work it out on the same date each year, with the same valuation rules, and compare the figure with your own last one rather than with anyone else's. The Federal Reserve's 2025 survey puts the median American family's net worth at 215,900 dollars, but the figure varies so much with age, country and whether you own a home that a national median is a poor yardstick for one household.
Look at the composition as well as the total. If almost all of it is home equity, building liquid savings matters more than paying the mortgage down faster. If debts are a large share of assets and carry high interest, clearing them is the most reliable return available.