American families grew modestly wealthier between 2022 and 2025, but more fell behind on debt payments, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Friday.

Between 2022 and 2025, inflation-adjusted median net worth -- which is calculated as the difference between families' assets and liabilities -- rose by 2% to $215,900, according to the Federal Reserve's 2025 Survey of Consumer Finances, released Friday. The Fed publishes this survey on changes in U.S. family finances every three years. Overall median family wealth was $211,100 in 2022.

An increase in home values, a rising stock market, and gains in median incomes all helped drive up families' net worth. Still, wealth grew more slowly than in previous periods, particularly between 2019 and 2022.

Median family incomes, when adjusted for inflation, rose 7% from $76,900 in 2021 to $82,200 in 2024.

But when looking at the average real income growth, rather than the median, families saw a decline of about 6% from $155,300 in 2021 to $145,200 in 2024. That contrast was evident throughout the latest survey -- families are seeing modest gains overall, but those gains are uneven and more are struggling with debt payments.

The modest gains in income and net worth between 2022 and 2025 occurred during a period where real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of around 2.5% and unemployment rose from 3.7% to 4.2%. Inflation, as measured by the annual change in the consumer price index, remained elevated, averaging 3.6% between 2022 and 2025.

Federal Reserve economists noted that measures of wealth inequality and wealth distribution were largely unchanged.

Last year, families reported spending $48,700, on average, over the previous 12 months, on total nonhousing expenses. The bulk of aggregate spending was done by the wealthiest families, with those in the top decile of wealth spending 136,000, on average, and accounting for 27.9% of the total expenditures. American families in the bottom quintile of wealth spent just $23,400.

Looking at the sources of wealth gains, the rate of homeownership was roughly unchanged at 66% in 2025 compared with 2022. For families that owned a home, the median net housing value rose to $230,000 in 2025 from $218,900 in 2022.

Retirement saving participation was up slightly between the past two surveys, yet participation in the stock market, including both direct and indirect holdings, declined slightly. That said, among families that were invested in stocks, equity gains grew 36%.

The fraction of families with any debt remained stable at 77% between 2022 and 2025. But there were signs that more families were struggling to meet their financial obligations.

In the latest survey, 8.6% of families had debt payment-to-income ratios greater than 40% in 2025, the largest share since 2010. The 40% threshold is generally considered a particularly high level of debt relative to income.

The share of families falling behind on loan payments increased sharply in the 2025 survey, with 19.6% of families reporting late payments in 2025 compared with 12.2% in 2022. Additionally, 8.2% of families reported being at least two months late on payments, up from 5% who reported similar difficulties in 2022.

Overall, Federal Reserve economists noted that families were more likely to be behind on their debt payments than at any point since the 2010 survey.