2026-02-19 13:33:28

The US economy is now reliant on older Americans like never before:

Americans aged 55+ now represent 45.3% of all US consumer spending, the highest in at least 28 years.

This is nearly DOUBLE the ~28.0% seen in the early 2000s.

By comparison, those aged 54 and younger are down to just 54.7%, from ~72.0% in 2000.

The gap between the two groups has narrowed by ~35 percentage points over the last 25 years and is on track to converge for the first time in history.

This comes as 73.7% of all US wealth is held by those over 55, up from 56.2% in 2000, according to Fed data.

The US wealth divide is accelerating.

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