The Marketplace Daily Pulse is down today, minus 68 percent, in fact.

That’s how far wealth has dropped for younger U.S. households in the past 25 years. That demographic includes families where the head of household is younger than 35.

Using census data, the Pew Research Center also found that the wealth of households headed by people 65 and older went dramatically the other way, rising 42 percent.

A key reason, according to the study: housing values. The older folks bought earlier and saw their real estate rise. The younger families bought high and saw their home value – and their net worth – plummet.