SOI Tax Stats - Personal Wealth Statistics

 

What is the Personal Wealth Study?

The Personal Wealth Study uses information reported on Form 706, United States Estate (and Generation Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, to estimate the wealth of the living population. These estimates, based on the Estate Multiplier technique, appear every three years. The estimates are limited to that segment of the population for whom personal wealth is at least equal to the estate tax filing threshold in effect for the estimation period.

Personal Wealth Study OneSheetPDF

For information about selected terms and concepts and a description of the data sources and limitations, please visit Personal Wealth Study Metadata.

SOI Data Tables

Included Items: Total and selected assets, debts and mortgages, and net worth.

All Top Wealthholders by Size of Net Worth

Data Presented Classified By Tax Years
Table 1. Personal Wealth:  All Top Wealth Holders, Type of Property by Size of Net Worth Size of Net Worth 2019XLSX  2016XLS  2013XLS  2007XLS  2004XLS  2001XLS  1998XLS  1995XLS  1992XLS  1989XLS

Female Top Wealthholders by Size of Net Worth

Data Presented Classified By Tax Years
Table 3. Personal Wealth:  Female Top Wealth Holders, Type of Property by Size of Net Worth Size of Net Worth 2019XLSX  2016XLS  2013XLS   2007XLS   2004XLS   2001XLS

Male Top Wealthholders by Size of Net Worth

Data Presented Classified By Tax Years
Table 2. Personal Wealth: Male Top Wealth Holders, Type of Property by Size of Net Worth Size of Net Worth 2019XLSX  2016XLS  2013XLS  2007XLS  2004XLS  2001XLS

Female Top Wealthholders by Age

Data Presented Classified By Tax Years
Table 5. Personal Wealth: Female Top Wealth Holders, Type of Property by Age of Wealth Holder Age of Wealth Holder 2019XLSX  2016XLS  2013XLS  2007XLS  2004XLS  2001XLS  1998XLS  1995XLS  1992XLS  1989XLS

Male Top Wealthholders by Age

Data Presented Classified By Tax Years
Table 4. Personal Wealth: Male Top Wealth Holders, Type of Property by Age of Wealth Holder Age of Wealth Holder 2019XLSX  2016XLS  2013XLS  2007XLS  2004XLS  2001XLS  1998XLS  1995XLS  1992XLS  1989XLS

Top Wealthholders by State of Residence

Data Presented Classified By Tax Years
Table 6. Personal Wealth: Top Wealth Holders, Net Worth and Selected Assets, by State of Residence State of Residence 2019XLSX  2016XLS  2013XLS  2007XLS  2004XLS  2001XLS  1998XLS

SOI Bulletin Articles

The articles below contain detailed analysis, including some year-to-year comparisons, as well as an explanation of estimation methodology and data tables. All of the articles are in .pdf format. These articles were also published in the quarterly SOI Bulletin.

2016PDF    2013PDF    2007PDF    2004PDF    2001PDF    1998PDF    1995PDF    1992PDF    1989PDF    1986PDF

The Underlying Methodology of the Estate Multiplier Technique Recent Improvements for 1989PDF

Preliminary Estimates of Personal Wealth, 1982: Composition of AssetsPDF

Estimates of Personal Wealth, 1982: A Second LookPDF

Trends in Personal Wealth, 1976-1981PDF

Research Papers

The following are research papers written by SOI analysts.  The papers below are in .pdf format.

Consider the Source: Differences in Estimates of Income and Wealth From Survey and Tax DataPDF

Authors: Barry W. Johnson, Statistics of Income, IRS; Kevin Moore, Federal Reserve Board of Governors

This paper examines the comparability of administrative and survey data, focusing specifically on data from Federal income and estate tax returns collected by the Statistics of Income (SOI) Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) sponsored by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Updating Techniques for Estimating Wealth from Federal Estate Tax ReturnsPDF

Author: Barry W. Johnson, Statistics of Income, IRS

This paper documents the history and development of the estate multiplier technique, a statistical methodology for estimating the wealth of a living population using data reported on returns filed for wealthy decedents, with an emphasis on recent methodological improvements.

Additional Information

The Federal Reserve Board of Governor's triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, which is supported by the Statistics of Income Division, provides estimates of household finances, including wealth, income, and debts.  Analyses of survey results, as well as public-use data sets, can be accessed online at through the Federal Reserve.

Compendiums of Federal Estate Tax and Personal Wealth Studies

File readers

Bulletin articles and research papers are available in Adobe PDF format, which requires the free Adobe Acrobat reader to view and print these files.  Data tables are available in Excel version 4.0.  A free Excel viewer is available for download, if needed.