U.S. Incomes Climbed Last Year, Census Bureau Says (poverty fell and inequality was little changed)

Household incomes rose 4% from 2022 to 2023, the first rise since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic

By Jon Kamp and Paul Overberg of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Inflation-adjusted median household income was $80,610 in 2023, up 4% from the 2022 estimate of $77,540"

"This move returned incomes to about where they were in 2019, the peak that was hit just before the pandemic."

"The bureau said 2023 inflation-adjusted median income wasn’t statistically different from the $81,210 in 2019, the highest point reached in data back to 1967."

"White non-Hispanic households saw median income reach $89,050, up 5.7% from 2022. Asian households had the highest median income, at $112,800, effectively unchanged from the prior year. Hispanic median household income was also effectively unchanged at $65,540. Black households’ median reached $56,490, an increase of 2.8%"

"The official U.S. poverty rate in 2023 was 11.1%, down 0.4 percentage point compared with 2022, which translated to about 36.8 million people living below the threshold, the Census Bureau said. For a four-person household, the threshold for meeting the definition of poverty last year was income below about $31,200."

"he proportion of Americans with health insurance for some or all of 2023 was 92%, effectively unchanged from 2022."

"An overall measure of income inequality called the Gini index was little changed from the prior year. A household at the 90th income percentile received 12.4 times as much income as one at the 10th percentile, compared with 12.6 times as much in 2022.

The top fifth of households—with yearly incomes above about $165,300—collected 51.9% of overall household income in 2023. The bottom fifth—households making up to $33,000 a year—collected 3.1%."

The 11.1% poverty rate is tied for the 2nd lowest official poverty rate since 1959 when the Census Bureau first started reporting it (tied with 1973). The lowest ever was the  10.5% in 2019. See Historical Poverty Tables: People and Families - 1959 to 2023. Then click on Table 2. Poverty Status of People by Family Relationship, Race, and Hispanic Origin. It is an Excel file.

See Historical Income Tables: Families from the Census Bureau. They also have a link for Gini coefficients for family income going back to 1947. See also Historical Income Tables: Households. See also Historical Poverty Tables: People and Families - 1959 to 2021. These Census Bureau links will take you to tables on poverty, incomes and inequality (the Gini coefficient measures inequality). Also see  Income & Poverty Data Tables.

Related posts:

Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2022 (2023)

U.S. Incomes Fail to Grow for Second Year in a Row, Census Figures Show (2022)

The Level and Trend of Poverty in the United States, 1939-1979 (2018)

More On Poverty (2012)

What has happened to the distribution of wealth in recent years? (2011)

Some Possibly Surprising Facts About Poverty (2012)

The U. S. Poverty Rate Was 10.5% in 2019, An All-Time Low (2020)

Mean Family Income By Quintiles (2017)