US households hold record 48% of financial assets in equities

Nearly half of every dollar American households have in financial assets is now parked in the stock market. According to Federal Reserve data, US households and nonprofits allocated a record 48.23% of their financial assets to corporate equities in Q2 2026, blowing past the previous quarter’s 44.66% and eclipsing every prior peak, including the dot-com bubble. The historical average since 1945 sits at 24.5%. Americans are now roughly double that figure. The numbers behind the record The jump from Q1 to Q2 was not subtle. A move from 44.66% to 48.23% in a single quarter represents a massive reallocation, roughly 3.6 percentage points of shift toward equities in just three months. For context, the Q4 2025 reading was 45.42%. The historical low was 9.5% back in Q2 1982. The current level is more than five times that trough. Household net worth surged by approximately $12.8 trillion in the second quarter of 2026, pushing the total for households and nonprofits to around $183 trillion. The primary engine of that wealth gain was equity markets. By the end of 2025, equity holdings had already reached $67.77 trillion, representing about 33% of total household net worth. That figure climbed...