I'm confused because you'd think that average household net worth would be a pretty simple thing to determine. Apparently not so. Two recent estimates are almost 3x apart:

  • Reported this week by Environics Analytics of Toronto is this: "The study says the average Canadian household had a net worth of $363,202 at the end of last year, versus $319,970 for the average American household."
  • But one year ago this week the Pew Research Center reported this: "In 2009, the median net worth of white households was $113,149, compared with $6,325 for Hispanics and $5,677 for blacks.


How can estimates of American household net worth differ by a factor of three (or more if you factor in minority households)? Should we all simply not believe anything we read any longer, or am I missing critical contextual differentiators?