66% of Colorado Households Lack Essential Wealth

Colorado’s first essential wealth metric establishes new benchmark for the savings and assets households need for financial resilience, long-term prosperity and well-being

MEDIA CONTACT:
Mary Gerlach Hamilton
mgerlach@garycommunity.org

DENVER, Sept. 1, 2026 – When asked what is essential to their American Dream, most Americans name freedom of choice, a good family life, a comfortable retirement and a home of their own, but a new report published by Gary Community Ventures and the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program found that two-thirds of Colorado households do not have the essential wealth needed to achieve the American Dream.

“Wages are incredibly important, but without assets that grow in value over time, even families with good jobs will fall behind,” said Julie Stone, Director of Family Economic Mobility at Gary Community Ventures and one of the report’s co-authors. “This new report reveals the importance of wealth for everyone, not just a few.”

To achieve common financial goals and aspirations, households need a level of wealth that enables financial resilience, prosperity and well-being. The Colorado Essential Wealth Metric accounts for and measures all three of these complementary functions, and takes into account how wealth needs vary across life stages and geographies.

Using U.S. Census data, the report found that two-thirds (66%) of Colorado households lack essential wealth. While the initial finding is stark, a closer look at family wealth building across Colorado reveals that more than 50% of households have some level of savings and assets, but not yet enough to achieve essential wealth.

• 14%, or about 32,400 households, are below asset poverty, without a current path to building wealth.
• 32%, or about 771,600 households, are at the ground level of wealth and financial well-being. This level is called asset poverty, the amount a household needs to maintain basic financial security.
• 20%, or about 482,100 households, have emergent wealth, which includes enough savings on hand to handle a typical unexpected expense, plus enough to take a meaningful first step toward owning an appreciating asset, such as a home or retirement account.
• 34% of Colorado households, or about 819,600, have essential wealth.

WHY WEALTH MATTERS IN AN AFFORDABILITY CRISIS

“As Americans face an affordability crisis, income may cover only a family’s day-to-day expenses, but wealth allows them to move from surviving to thriving,” said Steven Brown, Director of Insights and Evidence for Aspen FSP and a co-author of the report. “Wealth is one of the primary protectors against rising costs and one of the most reliable sources of economic stability a family can have.”

The Colorado Essential Wealth Metric provides a common benchmark for the wealth families need to manage financial shocks, own assets that build value, prepare for retirement, and have greater choice over time. 

“Families are doing their best to save money, increase their incomes and get by,” said Jill Hawley, Chief Impact Officer at Gary Community Ventures. “In order to help more Coloradans get ahead, we must reexamine assumptions about who builds wealth and design programs and policies that give more families a share in the financial upside of the economy.” 

It also serves as a tool for action. Gary Community Ventures invites Colorado policymakers, financial institutions, employers, philanthropic organizations, and advocates to join together in an ambitious goal to double the number of households meeting the essential wealth threshold in the next 10 years – from 815,000 households to 1,500,000 households. From employee ownership and down-payment assistance programs to early wealth-building accounts, the report outlines ways policymakers, philanthropy, financial institutions, employers and advocates can come together to help more Colorado families build the wealth they need to thrive.

Gary Community Ventures is an impermanent philanthropic organization committed to using all of its resources by 2035 to transform systems and build wealth for Colorado kids and families. We use all of our tools – catalytic grantmaking, impact investments, policy and advocacy, and new ventures – to tackle complex challenges and create longer-lasting impact than any single approach could achieve alone. We partner with leaders across early childhood, education and workforce development, housing, benefits and more to ensure systems work best for the kids and families they serve and to invest in opportunities to help families build wealth and own assets that grow in value over time. 

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program’s (Aspen FSP) mission is to illuminate and solve the most critical financial challenges facing American households and to make financial security for all a top national priority. We aim for nothing less than a more inclusive economy with reduced wealth inequality and shared prosperity. We believe that transformational change requires innovation, trust, leadership, and entrepreneurial thinking. Aspen FSP galvanizes a diverse set of leaders across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to solve the most critical financial challenges. We do this through deep, deliberate private and public dialogues and by elevating evidence-based research and solutions that will strengthen the financial health and security of financially vulnerable Americans.