"The income for the typical U.S. household barely rose last year and essentially matched its 2019 peak, the Census Bureau said Tuesday, a stark illustration of the impact that the pandemic inflation spike had on Americans' finances. The report also showed that the highest-earning households received healthy inflation-adjusted income increases, while middle- and lower-income households saw little gain. Median household income, adjusted for inflation, in 2024 was $83,730, the Census Bureau said, a 1.3% increase from the previous year's level of $82,690."
"The figures help illustrate why many Americans have been dissatisfied with the economy since the pandemic, even as unemployment has been historically low: Median household incomes are essentially unchanged from five years earlier, the report showed. Median household income was $83,260 in 2019, the report said, and the slightly higher figure for 2024 is within the margin of error and therefore reflects little change from five years earlier, Census officials said. That is a sharp contrast from the preceding five-year period, from 2014 to 2019, when median household income rose nearly 21%, according to Census data."
""It's not hard to see why middle-class Americans are frustrated," said Heather Long, chief economist at the Navy Federal Credit Union. "The frozen job market, tariffs and Medicaid cuts are going to put even more of a squeeze in 2025 on middle and lower-income households." For richest 10% of households, incomes rose 4.2% to $251,000, while for the poorest one-tenth incomes increased just 2.2% to $19,900. A household is defined by Census as a family unit or an individual living alone or living with people who aren't relatives."
Median household income, adjusted for inflation, was $83,730 in 2024, a 1.3% increase from $82,690 in 2023. The median remains essentially unchanged from 2019's $83,260, a difference within the margin of error. Highest-earning households saw larger gains, with the top 10% incomes rising 4.2% to $251,000, while the poorest tenth increased 2.2% to $19,900. Income growth from 2014–2019 was nearly 21%, contrasting with stagnation since 2019. Pandemic-era inflation spikes suppressed real income growth for middle- and lower-income households, contributing to dissatisfaction despite historically low unemployment.
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