How to Read the Fed's Financial Accounts (Z.1) — Household Net Worth, Holding Gains and Debt

As of 24 October 2026 (KST); latest release: Financial Accounts of the United States (Z.1), 2026:Q2, released by the Federal Reserve Board on September 11, 2026, with data through June 30, 2026. Next release: Thursday, December 10, 2026, at 12:00 noon, for 2026:Q3. Primary sources: https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/recent_developments.htm and https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/current/html/S1M_b.htm^[1][2]

Comparison basis: levels are end-of-quarter values in billions of dollars as printed in table S1M.b, not seasonally adjusted; the Recent Developments summary shows them rounded to trillions (for example, $195.9 trillion), so sums of rounded figures are approximate. Debt growth rates are published at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. The quarterly net-worth change of $12,803.4 billion is published in S1M.r; the other displayed changes are this page's calculations from published levels. All six documents used are Federal Reserve Board publications from the same release and count as one issuer record.^[1][3][4]

In three lines 1. The Z.1 shows the balance sheet of households and nonprofit organizations: assets, liabilities and net worth, the difference between them. 2. In 2026:Q2 the net worth of households and nonprofits rose $12.8 trillion to $195.9 trillion, mainly on capital gains on equities; its ratio to disposable personal income reached a record 8.28. 3. Household debt grew at a 5.0% seasonally adjusted annual rate; the next release, for 2026:Q3, is on December 10, 2026.^[1][4]

Scope. The release includes "full balance sheets, including net worth, for households and nonprofit organizations, nonfinancial corporate businesses, and nonfinancial noncorporate businesses".^[2]

Net worth. "The net worth of households and nonprofit organizations – the difference between the value of total assets and liabilities (figure 1) – increased by $12.8 trillion to $195.9 trillion in the second quarter." The sector includes nonprofit organizations, but because they are a small part of it "the sector is commonly referred to as the “household sector.”"^[1]

Transactions vs revaluations. "Transactions occur when households purchase or sell assets, or when they incur or pay down liabilities." "Revaluations arise from changes in the market value of assets that households already own—for example, when stock prices or real estate prices change." The explanatory notes split the change in a stock into transactions, "which measure the exchange of assets"; revaluations, "which measure holding gains and losses"; and other changes in volume, "which measure discontinuities or breaks in time series due to disaster losses or a change in source data or definition".^[1][3]

How the household numbers are built. For households and nonprofits, "Estimates are largely residual, derived from other sectors’ data." One exception: "Data for consumer credit, which are estimated directly, are available through 2026:Q2."^[3]

Differences from international guidelines. "The purchase of consumer durables is treated as investment rather than as consumption." "Nonfinancial noncorporate businesses (which are often small businesses) are shown in a separate sector rather than being included in the household sector." "Some debt securities are recorded at book value rather than market value."^[3]

Net worth vs income. "The ratio of net worth to disposable personal income (DPI), a measure of households’ potential to finance consumption out of their wealth, reached a record high of 8.28 in the second quarter (figure 2), surpassing the previous peak recorded in 2022:Q1." Table S1M.b shows the same measure as a percent: 828.5 in 2026:Q2 against 781.4 in 2026:Q1.^[1][4]

Holding gains vs saving. Table S1M.r splits the $12,803.4 billion change in 2026:Q2 into net investment of $402.3 billion, net holding gains of $11,973.5 billion and other volume changes of $427.7 billion; holding gains were about 94% of the change (this page's calculation; the three parts add to 12,803.5 because of rounding).^[5]

Equities vs real estate. "In the second quarter, the value of directly and indirectly held equity increased by $10.7 trillion, deposits decreased by $0.1 trillion, and the value of real estate increased by $1.1 trillion." In table S1M.r, holding gains on directly held corporate equities were $7,503.8 billion and on real estate $1,055.8 billion.^[1][5]

Wealth vs who holds it. "Because the ownership of such assets—particularly equities—is concentrated among higher-income households, not all households are equally impacted by changes in asset prices." The Fed points to its Distributional Financial Accounts for the distribution.^[1]

Debt vs income. "In the second quarter, household debt increased by 5.0% as the pace of mortgage borrowing picked up and nonmortgage consumer credit continued to grow at a moderate pace (figure 5)." "The ratio of household debt to DPI (figure 6) remained flat at 0.90, near its lowest level since the late 1990s (excluding the pandemic-related income effects in 2020 and 2021)."^[1]

$74.0 trillion vs $52,119.2 billion of equities. The summary's table 1 counts equities held directly and indirectly: "Corporate equities and debt securities include both directly held securities and securities held indirectly in mutual funds, defined contribution pension plans, and variable life insurance and annuity products." Line 22 of table S1M.b, corporate equities, is the directly held amount; mutual fund shares and pension entitlements are separate lines.^[1][4]

$21.9 trillion of liabilities vs $21.4 trillion of debt. Table 1 and table S1M.b show total liabilities ($21,880.6 billion). The debt tables use a narrower definition, "The term “debt” refers to the aggregation of all debt securities and loans and excludes other liabilities." and table 3 is in "Trillions of dollars, seasonally adjusted". In S1M.b, debt securities plus loans come to about $21,295.9 billion, roughly $21.3 trillion before seasonal adjustment (this page's calculation).^[1][4]

Growth rates vs changes in levels. "Growth rates calculated from stocks outstanding include revaluations and other changes in volume." "Growth rates in table D3.g are calculated by dividing transactions at a seasonally adjusted annual rate from table D3.t by seasonally adjusted stocks outstanding at the end of the previous period from table D3.s." The 5.0% household debt growth is therefore a transactions-based annual rate, not the percent change between two printed levels.^[1][3]

8.28 vs 828.5%. The summary states the ratio of net worth to disposable personal income as 8.28; table S1M.b prints the same measure as 828.5 percent (line 42 divided by line 51). Net worth of $195,870.5 billion divided by DPI of $23,642.2 billion is about 8.285, which displays as 8.28 at two decimals and as 828.5% at one decimal (this page's calculation).^[1][4]

Revisions. "Data shown for the most recent quarters are based on preliminary and potentially incomplete information." "There is no specific revision schedule; rather, data are revised on an ongoing basis." "Seasonal factors are recalculated and updated with the December release of third-quarter data."^[3]

This release's changes. The 2026:Q2 release incorporates revisions and structural changes, "including the incorporation of private credit lending vehicles, private credit loans, and hedge funds". "Hedge funds have been incorporated into the Financial Accounts, with data beginning 2012:Q4."^[2][3]

New table numbers. "In the June 11, 2026, release of the Financial Accounts, tables were renumbered to align more closely with the SNA coding guidelines for sectors and instruments." The household balance sheet is now table S1M.b and changes in net worth are table S1M.r.^[3]

Timing. The Z.1 "is published about 10 weeks following the end of each calendar quarter"; the release dates page says "Data are typically released during the second week of March, June, September, and December." The next release is Thursday, December 10, 2026, at 12:00 noon.^[2][3][6]