Income‐only and income‐net worth measures of elderly economic well‐being are derived from a single public welfare function‐optimizing model of household production and intertemporal resource allocation. These measures are estimated with data on United States elderly in 1984 from the Survey of Income and Program Participation. The income‐net worth measure also incorporates independently estimated work‐life expectancies and earnings replacement rates. Under both measures, minority, moderately disabled, and unmarried female elderly are the poorest sub‐populations. Increasing poverty with age is found under the income‐only measure, but not the income‐