The same child has a 1-in-4 chance of rising above the median wealth and a 2-in-5 chance of staying poor or near poor.

The median accumulated wealth for families at the top was about 12 times that of lower-middle-income families through much of the 1990's.

He calculates that the median wealth was $162,800 in 1998, the last year for which government wealth data is available.

The median wealth of nonwhite Americans fell in the 1980's and is today about one-tenth of the average white family's.

In 1984, the median wealth for black households was $3,000, compared to $39,000 for white households (Bobo & Smith 1998:188).

In 1994, boomers' median wealth equaled 130 percent of their annual salaries, versus 46 percent in 1984.

The median wealth of workers, including pensions and other sources, declined 2.2 percent in the 18 years covered by the study.

The top fifth consisted of 18.3 million households with income of more than $46,600 a year; the median wealth of those households was $111,770.

The median wealth of all households in 1988 was $35,750, the bureau said.

Married couples had median wealth of $57,130 in 1988.