Inflation quashed household income gains in 2024, census finds
Most Americans’ household income remained steady last year, in part because inflation counteracted gains in income, the U.S. Census Bureau said Tuesday.
But there were some notable exceptions: The richest 10 percent of households saw their income rise, and women and Black people lost ground, the census data shows.
After inflation, the median household income last year reached $83,730, a slight but not statistically significant increase from $82,690 in 2023. Overall, the Census Bureau found, median household income is relatively unchanged from the 2019 level when taking into account inflation, which has increased the prices of everyday goods in that period.
The census findings may help explain why many Americans have felt unhappy with the economy and financially squeezed by inflation and price hikes on housing, groceries, child care and other everyday costs. A December 2024 report from the Pew Research Center found that only 30 percent of Americans were satisfied with their pay and that most American workers were frustrated because their wages hadn’t kept up with the higher cost of living.
Changes to median income varied by age, race and citizenship status. Black households saw a 3.3 percent decline in median income between 2023 and 2024, whereas median incomes of Asian and Hispanic households increased around 5 percent and remained steady for White households.
And for the second year in a row, the wage gap between men and women widened. Among full-time, year-round workers, median earnings increased for men but remained unchanged for women, with women making 80.9 percent of what men make. That’s down from 82.7 percent the year before, when the gender wage gap widened for the first time since 2003.
Household incomes in the West and Northeast increased, while those in the South and Midwest stayed roughly the same. Median incomes for people under 65 who own or rent their homes went up.
Income inequality calculated by the Gini index, which measures wealth distribution across a population, did not change significantly from last year. But year-by-year data published by the census shows how the highest earning American households have seen their incomes rise faster, adjusted for inflation, than middle- to low-income households.
Pretax income for the richest 10 percent of American households jumped from $193,700 to $251,000 since 2009 - a nearly a 30 percent increase. In that same time period, median household income increased 20 percent, from $70,070 to $83,730, while income for the lowest earning households increased about 16 percent, from $17,060 to $19,900.
Households owned or rented by workers born in the United States did not see a statistically significant change to their income last year, though foreign-born households saw about a 7 percent increase. Noncitizens saw an 11.3 percent increase in median income.
The nation’s poverty level was largely unchanged at 10.6 percent, a 0.4 percentage point decrease since 2023.
The report, which also measures health insurance coverage, found that the percentage of Americans covered by health insurance did not significantly change, though Medicaid coverage dropped and direct-purchase insurance increased. More than 7 million Americans were pushed into poverty by medical expenses in 2024, the survey found.