Fed Report Shows How Recession Affected Wealth

A Federal Reserve survey has found that the Great Recession shrank Americans' wealth so much that in 2010 median family net worth was no more than it had been in 1992 after adjusting for inflation.

The Fed's survey of family finances finds that median net worth declined from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010. The median marks the point where half had more and half had less. The recession officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.

Net worth is the value of assets like homes, bank accounts and stocks, minus debts like mortgages and credit cards

The Fed's findings are in its latest Survey of Consumer Finances, a comprehensive review of household finances that the Fed has done every three years dating to 1989.

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