Yesterday the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest report on income and poverty in the United States. Here are seven figures from the report you should know about:
1. Real median household income increased 5.2 percent between 2014 and 2015—from $53,700 to $56,500. (This is the first annual increase in median household income since 2007.)
2. In 2015 the median income of a married-couple household was $84,626. For a female head of household (no husband present) the median income was $37,797. For a male head of household (no wife present) the median income was $55,861.
3. The official poverty rate decreased by 1.2 percentage points between 2014 and 2015. The number of people in poverty fell by 3.5 million between 2014 and 2015.
4. Households in the lowest quintile had incomes of $22,800 or less in 2015. Households in the second quintile had incomes between $22,801 and $43,511, those in the third quintile had incomes between $43,512 and $72,001, and those in the fourth quintile had incomes between $72,002 and $117,002. Households in the highest quintile had incomes of $117,003 or more. The top 5 percent of households in the income distribution had incomes of $214,463 or more.
5. The number of full-time, year-round workers increased by 2.4 million in 2015. The number of men and women working full time, year round with earnings increased by 1.4 million and 1 million, respectively, between 2014 and 2015
6. The real median earnings of men and women who worked full time, year round between 2014 and 2015 increased by 1.5 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively
7. Households within metropolitan areas experienced a 6.0 percent increase in real median household income between 2014 and 2015, from $55,920 to $59,258. The real median income of households inside principal cities of metropolitan areas increased 7.3 percent between 2014 and 2015. The change in median income of households outside metropolitan areas was not statistically significant.
