By MARTIN CRUTSINGER
WASHINGTON -- 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 Federal Reserve reported Monday.
Median net worth declined from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010, a Fed survey of family finances found. 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.
The Fed's survey of consumer finances contains information only through 2010. A separate survey the Fed released last week showed that total family net worth climbed 4.7% in the January-March quarter to $62.9 trillion, about 28% above its recession low. The increase was fueled by stock market gains.
Those gains put net worth about 5% below its pre-recession peak of $66 trillion. But since the first quarter ended, lower stock prices have eroded some household wealth.
The Fed's more detailed Survey of Consumer Finances is done every three years. The latest survey showed Monday that much of the drop in net worth from 2007 to 2010 reflected the collapse of the housing market, which drove down home values.
Among families that owned homes, the Fed survey found that their median home equity declined from $95,300 in 2007 to $55,000 in 2010, a drop of 42.3%. Home equity is the home's value minus how much is owed on the mortgage.
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<span class="byline">By <span class="author vcard"> <span class="fn"> <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/tag/@motleyfool/"> Rich Smith, The Motley Fool </a> </span> </span></span></p>
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With a national debt still hovering around 120% of its GDP, Greece is still far from being out of the fiscal woods. As austerity measures bite, Greece's GDP will shrink further and its debt-to-GDP ratio will rise, putting it on course for further defaults -- er, "restructurings." Nor is Greece alone. According to official figures, debt-to-GDP ratios elsewhere are similarly high.</p>
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Photo: Gerasimos, an 83-year-old Greek man, picks through a heap of rubbish to salvage useful items as the marble gate of the Roman Agora is reflected in a mirror, in the Plaka district of Athens on Monday, March 12, 2012. Greece implemented the biggest debt writedown in history on Monday, swapping the bulk of its privately-held bonds with new ones worth less than half their original value. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)</p>
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Debt-to-GDP ratio: 130%</p>
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Photo: President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson prior to voting in a referendum in Reykjavik, Iceland, Saturday, March 6, 2010. Icelanders voted "no" in a nationwide referendum on approving the use of $5.3 billion of taxpayers' money to repay international debts. The "no" vote may complicate Iceland's effort to recover from a deep recession and a banking collapse. (AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti)</p>
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Debt-to-GDP ratio: 120%</p>
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Photo: A man reads a newspaper in Milan, Italy, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. European leaders are trying to come up with ways to boost economic growth and jobs, which are being squeezed by their own governments' steep budget cuts across the continent. The 27 EU leaders meeting in Brussels are also looking for common ground on a new treaty to toughen spending rules to dig the continent out of a crippling debt crisis. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)</p>
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Debt-to-GDP ratio: 110%</p>
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Photo: Workers seen at the Luis Onofreâ luxury shoe factory in Oliveira de Azemeis, Portugal, Friday, Feb. 24, 2012. Debt burdens are rising fastest in European countries that have enacted the most draconian austerity programs. Portugal's unemployment rate hit a record 14 percent at the end of last year and the government imposed austerity measures to slash costs: Portugal cut pensions, reduced public servants' wages and raised taxes starting in 2010. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte)</p>
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Debt-to-GDP ratio: 105%</p>
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Photo: People walk past a beggar on a bridge in Dublin Monday Feb. 20, 2012. Bank of Ireland, the only one of Ireland's six banks to avoid nationalization, reported it returned to net profit in 2011 thanks to heavy debt restructuring in the face of continued losses from dud loans. (AP Photo/Shawn Pogatchnik)</p>
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Debt-to-GDP ratio: 102%</p>
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Photo: The shadow of Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is seen on a representation of the National Debt Clock as he spoke at a town hall meeting in Kalamazoo, Mich., Friday, Feb. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)</p>
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Debt-to-GDP ratio: 85% each</p>
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Photo: Reflected in a window, people walk in London's City financial district, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012. Britain's AAA credit rating was put on a "negative outlook" by ratings agency Moody's, amid fears over weaker growth prospects and potential shocks from the eurozone crisis. Britain's Chancellor George Osborne said the assessment was a vindication of the Government's tough austerity measures and "a reality check for anyone who thinks Britain can duck confronting its debts". Moody's downgraded the ratings of six countries and also put France and Austria on the same caution as the UK amid violent protests in Greece. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)</p>
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Debt-to-GDP ratio: 82%</p>
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It makes you wonder: Who will be next in line to default? And when they do, will we call that "good news," too?</p>
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Photo: A pedestrian looks at a sign in a shop reading: ''One euro, price haircut'' in Athens on Thursday, March 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)</p>
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The Fed survey found that median incomes fell from $49,600 in 2007 to $45,800 in 2010, a drop of 7.7%.
The Fed survey found that the proportion of families carrying a credit card balance fell to 39.4% in 2010. That was down 6.7 percentage points from 2007. Among families with a credit card balance, the median balance fell from $3,100 in 2007 to $2,600 in 2010, a drop of 16.1%.
The proportion of families with debt that had a debt payment that was late by 60 or more days during 2010 rose to 10.8%, up from 7.1% in 2007.
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