Wealth Mobility in the United States: Empirical Evidence from the PSID

Abstract

U.S. wealth mobility is low and has declined across birth cohorts. I use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) over 1969–2021 to measure inter-generational wealth mobility, intra-generational wealth mobility, and within-family wealth rank interdependence. Parent-child rank-rank coefficients range from 0.34 to 0.39 and rise with age. Over three generations, top persistence erodes faster than bottom persistence. Within generations, only 29% of individuals experience meaningful wealth rank mobility during working life. Most reshuffling occurs between ages 30 and 39. Children who rise within their birth cohort tend to have parents who also rise within theirs. Diverging wealth trajectories correlate with transfer receipts, business ownership, labor income, health, and non-mortgage debt. These moments provide calibration targets for heterogeneous agent models of the U.S. wealth distribution.