US household income rose slightly last year, roughly matching 2019 peak

WASHINGTON (AP) — The income for the typical U.S. household barely rose last year and essentially matched its 2019 peak, the Census Bureau said Tuesday, as stubbornly high inflation offset wage gains.

The report also showed that the highest-earning households received healthy inflation-adjusted income increases, while middle- and lower-income households saw little gains.

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 median is the midpoint between the highest- and lowest-income households, and helps filter out the impact of very high and very low incomes that can skew averages.

The figures help illustrate why many Americans have been dissatisfied with the economy: 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.

Household income fell for three years after 2019, mostly because of the COVID pandemic and the resulting jump in prices, and rose in 2023 for the first time in four years.

The worst inflation spike in four decades in 2021 and 2022 soured most Americans on the economy and contributed to Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat in last year’s election. Inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, fell in 2024 to an annual average of 2.9%, down from an average of 8% two years earlier.