Article · Stocks
Who owns the stock market
The richest 1% of American households own 50.9% of the stocks and stock funds that families hold, the richest 10% own 88.0%, and the bottom half of households 0.6%. In 1989 the top 1% held 42.8%. Counting every kind of holder, households and nonprofits own 42.1% of all corporate shares directly — down from 95% in 1945 — while funds, pension plans and foreigners hold most of the rest.
of all stocks and stock funds held by US families, Q2 2026; 42.8% in 1989
about 137,000 households, one in a thousand; 14.6% in 1989
67.6M households between them; 1.1% in 1989
directly or through funds and retirement accounts; only 19.0% own shares of a company directly; 31.9% owned any in 1989
of the shares of American companies, Q2 2026; 1.8% in 1945
If America’s stocks were 100 shares
Brokers keep their client lists to themselves, but the Federal Reserve estimates every quarter who owns what. Pile up every stock and stock fund that American families own — $64.6T at the end of Q2 2026 — call the pile 100 shares and hand them out by wealth. The richest 0.1% of households, about 137,000 of them, walk away with 25. The next 0.9% take 26, the next 9% take 37, and the 40% below them 11. The bottom half of America, 67.6M households, gets one, and only thanks to rounding.
Their real slice is 0.58 of one share — for all 67.6M households together. In 1989, when the whole pile was worth $2.09T, it split less steeply: the top 0.1% had 15 shares and the next 40% had 17.
Q3 1989$2.09T in all
Q2 2026$64.6T in all
Half the households, a sliver of the shares
The ribbons below connect two ways of slicing America: by households, where the bottom half is half the picture, and by stock wealth, where it all but disappears. The top 0.1% is a hairline on the left and 25.0% of the shares on the right; the top 1% together hold 50.9% and the top 10% 88.0%.
Ranking households by income instead of wealth tells a similar story: the top 1% of earners own 39.6% of family-held stocks and funds, the bottom fifth of earners 1.5%. Note what is being counted: what households own, not how many brokerage accounts they open — ten accounts with $100 each are still $1,000.
The dollars behind the slices
Divide each group’s stocks by its households and the gap turns into a ladder. The average household in the top 0.1% holds $118M in stocks and stock funds; the average one in the bottom half holds $5,530, about 21,300 times less. The bars use a log scale — on an ordinary one the bottom rows would be invisible.
How the slices moved since 1989
The top 1%’s slice went up from 42.8% in 1989 to 50.9% now. Its high so far was 52.3% in Q3 2019. Most of the change happened at the very top: the top 0.1% alone went up from 14.6% in 1989 to 25.0%.
The groups further down went the other way. The next 40% — roughly the upper middle class — went down from 17.2% in 1989 to 11.4%, and the bottom half down from 1.1% in 1989 to 0.6%. The bottom half’s largest slice was 1.7% in Q3 1998, its smallest 0.5% in Q3 2022.
The slices every five years (table)
| Quarter | Top 0.1% | Next 0.9% | Next 9% | Next 40% | Bottom 50% | Top 1% | All households |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q3 1989 | 14.6% | 28.2% | 38.8% | 17.2% | 1.1% | 42.8% | $2.09T |
| Q4 1990 | 13.4% | 27.2% | 38.1% | 19.8% | 1.4% | 40.6% | $1.97T |
| Q4 1995 | 19.5% | 30.8% | 32.9% | 15.2% | 1.5% | 50.3% | $4.77T |
| Q4 2000 | 17.6% | 25.2% | 37.2% | 18.7% | 1.4% | 42.7% | $8.99T |
| Q4 2005 | 20.4% | 27.3% | 35.6% | 15.7% | 0.9% | 47.7% | $10.6T |
| Q4 2010 | 20.7% | 27.4% | 37.6% | 13.4% | 0.8% | 48.2% | $12.5T |
| Q4 2015 | 23.5% | 27.6% | 35.5% | 12.7% | 0.7% | 51.1% | $19.2T |
| Q4 2020 | 23.2% | 27.9% | 36.8% | 11.5% | 0.6% | 51.1% | $33.8T |
| Q4 2025 | 24.7% | 25.9% | 37.2% | 11.6% | 0.6% | 50.6% | $55.8T |
| Q2 2026 | 25.0% | 25.9% | 37.2% | 11.4% | 0.6% | 50.9% | $64.6T |
What about 401(k)s?
One caveat makes the top’s slice look a little larger than life: the Fed’s “stocks and stock funds” leave out what people hold through workplace retirement plans — 401(k)s and their cousins — which it counts as pensions ($14.3T in all). Those plans are where the middle class keeps its stocks: the next 40% hold 39.7% of them, against 11.4% of the stocks held outside, and the bottom half 5.3%.
So count every dollar in those plans as stock — generous, since they hold bonds and cash too. The top 1% would still own 43.8%, the next 40% 16.5% and the bottom half 1.4%. The middle gets a bigger slice; the shape of the pie stays the same.
How many families own any stock
Owning a lot and owning some are different questions. In the Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances of 2025, 56.2% of American families owned some stock, directly or through funds and retirement accounts, up from 31.9% in 1989. The high so far was 58.0% in 2022. Only 19.0% held shares of a company directly; most own their stocks through a retirement account, which 54.9% of families have.
Ownership climbs with income like a staircase: 13.8% of the bottom fifth of earners own any stock, 96.7% of the top tenth (in 1989: 3.2% and 77.2%). The typical owner’s stake is modest — a median of $78,000 — but it runs from $7,500 in the bottom fifth to $1.01M in the top tenth.
Families owning stock, every survey (table)
| Families | 1989 | 1992 | 1995 | 1998 | 2001 | 2004 | 2007 | 2010 | 2013 | 2016 | 2019 | 2022 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All families | 31.9% | 37.0% | 40.5% | 48.9% | 53.0% | 50.3% | 53.2% | 49.8% | 48.8% | 51.9% | 52.6% | 58.0% | 56.2% |
| Bottom 20% by income | 3.2% | 7.5% | 6.3% | 10.1% | 13.3% | 11.6% | 14.2% | 12.3% | 11.4% | 11.5% | 14.5% | 17.2% | 13.8% |
| 20–40% | 15.6% | 20.0% | 24.9% | 30.8% | 34.9% | 30.2% | 36.4% | 31.0% | 26.7% | 32.4% | 34.0% | 39.9% | 35.4% |
| 40–60% | 28.9% | 34.2% | 41.8% | 50.4% | 54.6% | 51.7% | 53.0% | 51.4% | 49.3% | 51.6% | 55.7% | 60.1% | 59.5% |
| 60–80% | 43.9% | 51.3% | 54.5% | 69.4% | 74.7% | 69.9% | 73.3% | 68.2% | 69.4% | 73.9% | 71.1% | 78.7% | 80.1% |
| 80–90% | 58.2% | 66.6% | 69.7% | 77.3% | 84.7% | 83.5% | 86.2% | 82.3% | 81.8% | 85.2% | 83.6% | 91.5% | 87.7% |
| Top 10% | 77.2% | 76.9% | 80.1% | 90.6% | 90.5% | 92.8% | 91.6% | 90.4% | 93.0% | 94.7% | 92.2% | 96.4% | 96.7% |
The market is getting older
Stocks follow birthdays. Households headed by someone 70 or older own 40.5% of family-held stocks and funds, more than the 22.6% of 1989, while making up 21.8% of households. Everyone 55 and over together holds 79.9%. Households under 40 — 27.5% of the country — hold 5.7%.
Millennials against boomers, at the same age
Is that just age, or are the young behind? Compare each generation at the moment its oldest members were 45 — the age the oldest millennials (born in 1981) reached in 2026.
After inflation, the average millennial household holds 5.32 times as much in stocks and funds as a boomer household did in 1991: $120,000 against $22,500 in today’s dollars. Yet the market has grown even faster than their savings: against the average household of their own day, millennials hold ×0.25, boomers held ×0.38. In dollars they are ahead; in slices of the pie, behind.
Baby boomersborn 1946–1964
Q2 1991: the oldest were 45
16.0%of family-held stocks
Share of households41.9%
$9,180 per household
Against the average household×0.38
Gen Xborn 1965–1980
Q2 2010: the oldest were 45
8.4%of family-held stocks
Share of households29.1%
$25,300 per household
Against the average household×0.29
Millennialsborn 1981 or later
Q2 2026: the oldest were 45
9.3%of family-held stocks
Share of households37.2%
$120,000 per household
Against the average household×0.25
Baby boomersborn 1946–1964
Q2 1991: the oldest were 45
16.0%of family-held stocks
Share of households41.9%
$22,500 per household in Q2 2026 dollars
Against the average household×0.38
Gen Xborn 1965–1980
Q2 2010: the oldest were 45
8.4%of family-held stocks
Share of households29.1%
$38,800 per household in Q2 2026 dollars
Against the average household×0.29
Millennialsborn 1981 or later
Q2 2026: the oldest were 45
9.3%of family-held stocks
Share of households37.2%
$120,000 per household
Against the average household×0.25
Generations by the birth year of the head of the household, as the Fed defines them; millennials include everyone born in 1981 or later, so at the same age they are a younger group than the others. ×: stocks and funds per household against the average household of the same quarter.
Who has held American shares since 1945
Families are only one kind of owner. The Fed’s Financial Accounts count every share of a US company, listed or not, plus the foreign shares Americans own — $124T at the end of Q2 2026 — and who holds them. In 1945, households and nonprofits held 95% of them directly. Now they hold 42.1%; counting what they own through funds and retirement plans, 59.9%.
The difference went to the middlemen. Mutual funds hold 15.1%, and exchange-traded funds, which first show up in the data in 1993, already hold 10.3%. Together, funds (25.4%) still hold less than households directly. Pension funds hold 8.2%; their slice peaked at 27.1% in Q4 1985.
Foreigners own $22.2T of American shares: 20.3% of the stock of all US companies, up from 1.8% in 1945. In the chart they are 18.0%, because the total there also counts the $14.4T of foreign shares that Americans hold.
The holders every five years (table)
| Year | Households directly | Mutual funds | ETFs | Pension funds | Foreigners | Others | All shares |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1945 | 94.8% | 0.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1.8% | 2.8% | $153B |
| 1950 | 92.8% | 1.6% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1.6% | 3.9% | $178B |
| Q4 1955 | 88.8% | 2.3% | 0.0% | 2.1% | 2.2% | 4.5% | $299B |
| Q4 1960 | 85.8% | 3.5% | 0.0% | 4.0% | 2.2% | 4.5% | $425B |
| Q4 1965 | 81.8% | 4.2% | 0.0% | 5.9% | 2.0% | 6.1% | $735B |
| Q4 1970 | 74.3% | 4.8% | 0.0% | 9.3% | 3.3% | 8.4% | $831B |
| Q4 1975 | 62.4% | 4.0% | 0.0% | 15.8% | 4.0% | 13.8% | $839B |
| Q4 1980 | 60.3% | 3.4% | 0.0% | 17.9% | 5.0% | 13.4% | $1.49T |
| Q4 1985 | 45.5% | 6.0% | 0.0% | 27.1% | 6.0% | 15.3% | $2.27T |
| Q4 1990 | 49.1% | 7.1% | 0.0% | 24.3% | 6.9% | 12.6% | $3.53T |
| Q4 1995 | 47.5% | 14.3% | 0.0% | 22.4% | 5.7% | 10.1% | $8.48T |
| Q4 2000 | 39.3% | 21.4% | 0.4% | 17.4% | 8.1% | 13.4% | $18.2T |
| Q4 2005 | 38.1% | 23.5% | 1.3% | 18.3% | 9.8% | 9.0% | $21.5T |
| Q4 2010 | 36.1% | 24.0% | 3.1% | 14.9% | 13.2% | 8.7% | $24.4T |
| Q4 2015 | 35.8% | 23.9% | 4.7% | 11.4% | 14.9% | 9.2% | $36.1T |
| Q4 2020 | 38.0% | 20.9% | 6.6% | 10.0% | 16.4% | 8.0% | $63.9T |
| Q4 2025 | 40.8% | 15.7% | 9.9% | 8.7% | 18.3% | 6.6% | $109T |
| Q2 2026 | 42.1% | 15.1% | 10.3% | 8.2% | 18.0% | 6.3% | $124T |
Questions people ask
Who owns the most stocks?
By wealth, the richest 0.1% of households — about 137,000 of them — own 25.0% of the stocks and stock funds that households hold, $118M each on average. By kind of holder, the biggest slices of all corporate shares are: households and nonprofits directly 42.1%, foreigners 18.0%, mutual funds 15.1%, ETFs 10.3%, pension funds 8.2%.
What percent of stocks do the top 1% own?
50.9% of the stocks and stock funds held by US households (Q2 2026), up from 42.8% in 1989. The top 10% own 88.0%, which leaves 12.0% for the other 90% of households. Even counting every dollar of 401(k)-type plans as stock, the top 1%’s slice would be 43.8%.
What percent of Americans own stock?
56.2% of families in 2025, counting stocks held through funds and retirement accounts; 19.0% own shares of individual companies directly. That leaves 43.8% of families with no stock at all. In 1989, 31.9% owned some.
How much stock do foreigners own?
$22.2T at the end of Q2 2026, or 20.3% of the shares of all American companies, listed or not. In 1945 it was 1.8%.
Do retail investors matter?
Households are still the market’s largest owner: with nonprofits, they hold 42.1% of all corporate shares directly and 59.9% counting funds and retirement plans. But “retail” is not the same as “everyone”: the top 10% of households own 88.0% of family-held stocks and funds, the other 90% 12.0%.
Go deeper
How the numbers are calculated
- Wealth, income, age and generation groups: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Distributional Financial Accounts of the United States, through Q2 2026.
- Holders of US shares: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Financial Accounts of the United States (Z.1), tables F51.1.s “Corporate equities” and S1M.e.b, through Q2 2026.
- Families owning stock: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Survey of Consumer Finances, historical tables 6 and 7, surveys 1989–2025.
- After inflation: the US consumer price index by month from Robert Shiller’s data, at the last month of each quarter.
- “Stocks and stock funds” are the Fed’s “corporate equities and mutual fund shares”: shares and funds held outside workplace retirement plans; mutual funds include bond funds. Holdings through 401(k)-type plans are the Fed’s “defined-contribution pension entitlements”, shown separately.
- Wealth groups rank households by net worth: the top 0.1%, the next 0.9% (99th to 99.9th percentile), the next 9% (90th to 99th), the next 40% (50th to 90th) and the bottom 50%; the top 1% is the first two together. The Fed builds the quarterly numbers by combining its household-sector totals with the Survey of Consumer Finances; recent quarters are estimates and get revised.
- 100 shares: each group’s share rounded to whole squares so that they add up to 100, the largest remainders rounded up first.
- Generations at the same age: each generation in the quarter when its oldest members were as old as the oldest millennials are in Q2 2026 (45).
- Holders: every corporate share in the Financial Accounts — US companies, listed or not ($15.6T of it in closely held companies), plus $14.4T of foreign shares held by Americans. “Households directly” is what is left after every other holder is counted, so it also includes anything no other sector reports. Pension funds: private, federal, and state and local. Foreigners’ share of US companies: their holdings over all shares less the foreign shares Americans hold. Hedge funds appear as a holder of their own from 2012; before that they are inside “households directly”.
- Families owning stock: SCF families with stock holdings, direct or indirect (indirect: in pooled investment funds, retirement accounts and other managed assets). Income groups are percentiles of each survey year’s family income; medians are in dollars of the survey year.
- This article describes who owns what. It is not investment advice.
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Source: BigCapital.org — “Who owns the stock market”, https://bigcapital.org/articles/who-owns-the-stock-market/