The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data indicating that real median household income in the United States reached $83,730 in 2024, which is not statistically different from the previous year’s estimate of $82,690. The official poverty rate declined by 0.4 percentage points to 10.6% for 2024, according to findings from the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC).
The Census Bureau’s announcement draws on three reports: “Income in the United States: 2024,” “Poverty in the United States: 2024,” and “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2024.” The official poverty measure is based on pretax money income and does not include tax credits, while the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) considers post-tax income as well as government assistance programs.
The SPM rate for 2024 was reported at 12.9%, showing no significant change from the prior year. Nearly all groups had higher SPM rates than official poverty rates except those under age 18 and people living with cohabiting partners.
For household incomes, between 2023 and 2024, Asian households saw a median income increase of 5.1% and Hispanic households an increase of 5.5%. In contrast, Black households experienced a decline of 3.3%. There were no significant changes for White or White non-Hispanic households.
Income inequality, measured by the Gini index, remained stable between the two years. However, when calculated using post-tax income instead of pretax income, inequality was found to be lower by about 8.7%.
Among full-time, year-round workers, men saw a median earnings increase of 3.7%, while women’s earnings did not significantly change over this period. The female-to-male earnings ratio decreased for a second consecutive year to 80.9% in 2024 from 82.7% in 2023.
The weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four stood at $32,130 in 2024 (full thresholds available at https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html). There were approximately 35.9 million people living in poverty last year.
Between these two years, official poverty rates fell among White, Asian and Hispanic individuals but did not change significantly for other race groups covered by the report.
Social Security continued to play a major role as an antipoverty program by moving about 28.7 million individuals out of SPM-defined poverty during the year.
On health insurance coverage, an estimated 92% of Americans—or about 310 million people—had some form of health insurance during all or part of last year; roughly eight percent (27.1 million) went without coverage at any point during that time frame.
Private health insurance remained more common than public options at rates of about two-thirds versus just over one-third respectively; employment-based plans were most prevalent at just over half the population (53.8%). Medicare covered around one-fifth (19.1%), Medicaid accounted for nearly one-sixth (17.6%), with smaller shares covered through direct-purchase plans or military-related programs.
There was an uptick in private coverage rates driven by more direct-purchase policies compared to last year; meanwhile public coverage rates declined mainly due to reduced Medicaid participation.
Response rates for CPS ASEC surveys remain below pre-pandemic levels—62% this cycle compared with slightly less last year—which can raise concerns about potential bias despite adjustments made to survey weights intended to ensure representativeness.
Additional information regarding data sources and methodology can be found at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar25.pdf.
