Median household income in the United States rose last year for the first time in eight years, providing welcome relief for Americans struggling to make ends meet, U.S. officials said on Tuesday (Sept 13).
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The Census Bureau had plenty of good news on Tuesday, including a headline-making 5.2 percent increase in household income, a 1.2 percentage point decline in the number of people living in poverty and a 1.3 percent drop in the number of Americans without health insurance.
Incomes in the USA surged in 2015, delivering the first increase for family households in eight years.
The uptick in wages lifted more Americans out of poverty.
In short, the data suggest that households in metro areas saw incomes surge and a noticeable reduction in poverty previous year, while those outside did not. In a supplemental report that looks at a variety of factors not included in the official report, the Census Bureau noted a more accurate poverty rate for seniors is 13.7%-much higher than the official rate of 8.8% but down from the supplemental poverty rate for seniors of 14.4% in 2014.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
After years of stagnant income, American families are at last catching a break. Overall, more than 40 million Americans are still in poverty, which means that more than 40 million Americans are struggling every day just to pay for food, rent or other necessities. Income gains were almost across the board in ages, ethnicity, household types and regions.
Non-Hispanic white households increased by 4.4%.
Also, income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient, was unchanged from 2014 to 2015.
This increase was analyzed from different angles, and the report on income in the US shows certain races and certain regions had a higher growth than others. Donald Trump has repeatedly hammered home that income is $4,000 lower than it was in 2000.
At the current rate of growth, Mr. Mishel said annual household incomes could soon surpass their prerecession high.
Meanwhile, households outside of metro areas – that is, in rural areas or small towns – did not see a statistically significant change in median income.
Nebraskans saw their median incomes rise 4.3 percent past year, according to Census figures.
Some 90.9 percent of people had health insurance for at least part of 2015, up from 89.6 percent in 2014.
In 2015, 12.2 per cent of males were in poverty while 14.8 per cent of females were in poverty, Census Bureau said.
Those without health insurance coverage for the full 2015 calendar year fell to 9.1 percent or 29 million people, down from 10.4 percent or 33 million in 2014, the bureau said in a separate report, Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2015.
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Today, the Census Bureau will release new data on poverty in the U.S. The numbers for 2015 help inform decisions about funding for safety net programs, and provide the official “poverty rate”.
