Methodology

Net worth and the age ladders

The Federal Reserve's 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances Summary Extract: 22,975 records (five implicates per surveyed household), pooled with the survey weights. Our curves reproduce the Fed's own published bulletin — median net worth within 0.1% ($192,700 vs $192,900) and every age-class median to the dollar. Net worth = all assets minus all debts; income on SCF pages is 2021 (the survey's reference year).

Household income and the state ladders

The Census Bureau's CPS ASEC 2025 household file: interviewed households with positive supplement weights, income for calendar year 2024. Our national median ($83,592) lands within 0.2% of the Census published $83,730. State curves use each state's own households; state tail estimates (p99) carry meaningful sampling error and are labeled as such.

Height (a page for parents)

The CDC 2000 growth charts, ages 2–20, computed from the CDC's published LMS parameters with the standard formula (z = ((x/M)^L − 1)/(L·S)) — the same math behind the pediatrician's chart. The height page is written for parents and caregivers and is not directed to children; it collects nothing and personalizes nothing. Educational, not medical advice.

Interpolation

Curves are value grids at percentiles 1–99 (plus 99.5 and 99.9). Your value is placed by linear interpolation between grid points; values beyond the p99.9 estimate display as 99.9. Percentiles are positions in a survey estimate, not verdicts.

Limits, stated plainly

Surveys undercount the extreme tails (the SCF deliberately excludes the Forbes 400). Sampling error grows toward p99 and in small states. Definitions differ across sources — SCF measures households' balance sheets in 2022, CPS measures 2024 money income — so the two ladders are cousins, not twins. Nothing here is financial, tax, or medical advice.

Sources

Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Consumer Finances 2022 (public domain) · US Census Bureau, Current Population Survey ASEC 2025 (public domain) · CDC National Center for Health Statistics, 2000 Growth Charts (public domain). This site is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any of these agencies.