Average American: Money Supply vs Wealth Explorer

If the government decided to redistribute money and wealth, what would each person actually get?

Compare M2, household net worth, financial assets, and home equity under a strict best-case redistribution model. The key distinction: M2 is the closest thing to liquid money people imagine being divided, while asset values depend on functioning markets, buyers, sellers, and property rights.

Core distinction

Only liquid money can be directly redistributed as cash

M2 is essentially the money-supply pool closest to what people imagine as liquid cash that could be divided. Net worth, financial assets, and home equity are market values. If products, services, property, and ownership claims are no longer bought or sold in functioning markets, those market values no longer behave like redistributable cash and as such do not have a cash value to be redistributed.

If products and services are neither bought nor sold, market value is not spendable cash. In this strict scenario, M2 is the tangible cash-allocation pool; everything else requires ownership transfer, market liquidation, or government control assumptions.

Measured

$23.1T

M2 money supply pool

Calculated

$67,447

Equal allocation before reserve, based on estimated population of 341,784,857 people

Modeled

$7,800

3 month reserve per person

Calculated

$59,647

Remaining after reserve

Modeled

5.2 yrs

Years of a $13,043 annual social welfare assistance equivalent

Scenario controls

Choose the pool and assumptions

Redistribution poolAllocation efficiency: 100%100% means no transition cost, no leakage, no market disruption, and perfect administrative efficiency.Population denominator, based on current Census estimate

Monthly reserve per person

Reserve months

Comparable current welfare snapshot

Considering Medicaid/CHIP, SNAP, free/reduced lunch, TANF, rental, and energy social welfare programs, we estimate there are 92M unduplicated recipients.

Estimated unduplicated recipients

Total budget (Based on Census)

Annual social welfare assistance equivalent per person: $13,043

Calculated as total budget divided by estimated unduplicated recipients.

Measured vs calculated

Equal per-person allocation by pool

This compares different source pools. Only M2 is a money-supply cash-pool scenario; the others are balance-sheet values that depend on functioning markets and property rights.

Reserve math

What remains after a cash reserve?

Best-case upper bound

Assumptions that favor the scenario

No assets hidden and 100% compliance.
No transition costs, corruption, waste, or leakage.
No inflation, market disruption, or behavioral response.
Every dollar is allocated efficiently.

Logic summary

What strict equality requires after day one

A one-time equal split does not preserve equality over time.
Private transferable property allows location, resale, and inheritance advantages.
Permanent equality requires permanent rules over ownership and reassignment.
The model trends toward assigned housing and use rights, not ordinary ownership.

Welfare comparison teaser

How many years of assistance does the cash split represent?

This comparison is an estimate from editable program-budget inputs and an estimated unduplicated recipient count. With the current settings, the listed programs total $1.2T per year. Divided by 92,000,000 estimated unduplicated recipients, that equals $13,043 per person per year.

Under that assumption, the equal allocation from M2 money supply equals about 5.2 years of the modeled annual assistance equivalent.

The next research step is a true deduplicated recipient model using Census SIPP or comparable microdata. Until then, this avoids the biggest error: adding overlapping program caseloads together.

Related tool

Welfare Demographics Explorer

Start with Census safety-net participation, then expand toward a benefit-value comparison.

Open welfare data

Comparable current welfare snapshot

Budget, recipient counts, and overlap accounting

Lower bound

~85M people on Medicaid/CHIP or SNAP after subtracting their overlap.

Default estimate

92,000,000 modeled unduplicated recipients.

High estimate

~100M people allowing more non-overlap across school meals, rental, and energy aid.

Medicaid / CHIP

Budget input: $950B

Recipients: 77,300,000 (22.6% of population)

39.4% also receive SNAP, 22.5% free/reduced lunch, 2.8% TANF, and about 12% rental or energy aid.

CMS Medicaid and CHIP data

SNAP

Budget input: $113B

Recipients: 38,300,000 (11.2% of population)

79.5% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 22.8% free/reduced lunch, 4.5% TANF, and 20% rental or energy aid.

USDA FNS SNAP data tables

Free / reduced school meals

Budget input: $21B

Recipients: 28,800,000 (8.4% of population)

60.5% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 30.3% SNAP, 4.1% TANF, and 8.5% rental or energy aid.

USDA FNS child nutrition data tables

TANF

Budget input: $17B

Recipients: 2,400,000 (0.7% of population)

88% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 70.1% SNAP, 47.7% free/reduced lunch, and 30% rental or energy aid.

ACF TANF caseload and financial data

Rental subsidies

Budget input: $70B

Recipients: 11,700,000 (3.4% of population)

77.4% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 65.1% SNAP, 20.4% free/reduced lunch, 6.3% TANF, and 28.5% energy aid.

HUD assisted housing data

Energy aid

Budget input: $4B

Recipients: 14,400,000 (4.2% of population)

65.8% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 54.4% SNAP, 4.8% TANF, and 23.2% rental subsidies.

HHS LIHEAP data and reports

Program	Current budget input	Estimated recipients	% of population	Overlap note	Source
Medicaid / CHIP	$950B	77,300,000	22.6%	39.4% also receive SNAP, 22.5% free/reduced lunch, 2.8% TANF, and about 12% rental or energy aid.	CMS Medicaid and CHIP data
SNAP	$113B	38,300,000	11.2%	79.5% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 22.8% free/reduced lunch, 4.5% TANF, and 20% rental or energy aid.	USDA FNS SNAP data tables
Free / reduced school meals	$21B	28,800,000	8.4%	60.5% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 30.3% SNAP, 4.1% TANF, and 8.5% rental or energy aid.	USDA FNS child nutrition data tables
TANF	$17B	2,400,000	0.7%	88% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 70.1% SNAP, 47.7% free/reduced lunch, and 30% rental or energy aid.	ACF TANF caseload and financial data
Rental subsidies	$70B	11,700,000	3.4%	77.4% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 65.1% SNAP, 20.4% free/reduced lunch, 6.3% TANF, and 28.5% energy aid.	HUD assisted housing data
Energy aid	$4B	14,400,000	4.2%	65.8% also receive Medicaid/CHIP, 54.4% SNAP, 4.8% TANF, and 23.2% rental subsidies.	HHS LIHEAP data and reports

These budget values are comparison inputs, not a claim that each listed participant receives that amount. Benefits vary by program, household, eligibility, state, and take-up. The recipient denominator is editable because people commonly receive more than one benefit, and full deduplication requires microdata or a direct Census unduplicated estimate.

Source notes

Official sources and caveats

FRED M2SL: M2 money supply, May 2026. Money-supply measure used as a cash-pool scenario. M2 is not total wealth.FRED TNWBSHNO: Household net worth, Q1 2026. Assets minus liabilities for households and nonprofit organizations. Not liquid cash.FRED TFAABSHNO: Total financial assets, Q1 2026. Financial assets held by households and nonprofit organizations. Liquidation effects are not modeled.FRED OEHRENWBSHNO: Home equity, Q1 2026. Owner equity in real estate. This is property value net of mortgage debt, not cash.Census National Population Totals: 2020-2025: Census Vintage 2025 estimate, default denominator 341,784,857 people.