Household Equity Allocation
This measures the share of US household financial assets held in corporate equities — directly and indirectly through funds, ETFs, and retirement accounts — divided by total household financial assets. Drawn from the Fed's quarterly Z.1 Financial Accounts, it captures how much of household wealth is tied to the stock market, with a long-term average around 28-32%.
Latest reading
As of January 2026, Equity Allocation (Equity share of assets) stands at 45.8% — down from 46.7% the prior reading. It works as a contrarian, long-horizon gauge: unusually high allocations (above ~38%) reflect crowd optimism and have historically preceded below-average forward returns, while low allocations after crashes have preceded strong ones. This metric has been one of the best predictors of subsequent 10-year equity returns — better than P/E or CAPE. Use the 4-quarter average to read the underlying trend in risk appetite rather than quarterly noise. Series history runs from 1993 to present.
Sources, methodology & freshnessLast updated 2026-07-24 · Open ↓Close ↑
Equity share of assets
Next release: Sep 10, 2026
Full history
Methodology & data
Equity Allocation is sourced from Fed via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Federal Reserve Z.1 via FRED (BOGZ1FL153064486Q), quarterly). We pull the complete history, chart it on a quarterly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-07-24. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Household Equity Allocation?
This measures the share of US household financial assets held in corporate equities — directly and indirectly through funds, ETFs, and retirement accounts — divided by total household financial assets. Drawn from the Fed's quarterly Z.1 Financial Accounts, it captures how much of household wealth is tied to the stock market, with a long-term average around 28-32%.
How do you read Equity Allocation?
It works as a contrarian, long-horizon gauge: unusually high allocations (above ~38%) reflect crowd optimism and have historically preceded below-average forward returns, while low allocations after crashes have preceded strong ones. This metric has been one of the best predictors of subsequent 10-year equity returns — better than P/E or CAPE. Use the 4-quarter average to read the underlying trend in risk appetite rather than quarterly noise.
Where does the Equity Allocation data come from?
Federal Reserve Z.1 via FRED (BOGZ1FL153064486Q), quarterly. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/household-equity-allocation.csv.
How often is Equity Allocation updated?
Equity Allocation is a quarterly series from Fed, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.
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