The Average American Is Worth More Than Tim Walz

In the week of getting to know Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, focus has turned to the Minnesota governor's finances—or what CNBC describes as a "modest financial profile" that stands "in stark contrast to that of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump."

• For one thing, the former teacher and Army veteran has no stocks, bonds, mutual funds, private equities, or other securities, financial disclosures reveal.
• The only investment assets of Walz and his wife, Gwen, "appear to be via pensions," Axios reports.
• No real estate, either. Before moving into the governor's mansion in 2019, the Walzes sold their four-bedroom place in Mankato for $304,000, $11,000 below asking. They'd purchased the home in 1997 for $145,000 and earned $2,500 a year renting a room, per CNBC and Business Insider.

• This is all "highly unusual for elected officials. Particularly high-profile ones vying for federal office," per Axios.
• Unusual for those seeking the White House, but not for most Americans. Nearly 80% of Americans aren't directly invested in the stock market, per Business Insider, meaning this could add to Walz's "everyman" appeal.
• Investments abound for Trump, who has a net worth in the billions, and for both Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, each worth millions. Together with his wife, Walz is thought to be worth around $330,000, or less than the average American, per Fortune. Average net worth for American families is a little over $1 million, though the median net worth—thought to be more representative because the richest of the rich don't skew the numbers—is $192,000.
• In 2018, Walz told the New York Post that he slept in his Capitol Hill office for a time. He said he'd been sharing a place with Rep. Patrick Murphy when Murphy lost a Senate bid, upending the arrangement. "It's just figuring how to make all your finances work," he noted.

• Walz's gubernatorial salary is $127,629; CNBC reports it could've reached $149,550 last year, but Walz declined a raise, according to the state. He has no book deal, "a common source of extra income for high-profile politicians," per Insider.
• For context, Walz introduced the STOCK Act, a law to formally ban insider trading and require disclosures for stock-trading lawmakers, as congressman, and, as governor, signed off on a 1% tax surcharge on annual net investment income over $1 million.

(More Tim Walz stories.)