Inflation-Adjusted US Household Income Rises, Yet Not to Pre-Pandemic Levels: Census

New federal government data show that real (inflation-adjusted) U.S. household incomes rose in 2023 for the first time since 2019, but have failed to recover from their pre-pandemic levels. Last year, the median income was $80,610, up 4 percent from $77,540 in 2022, according to the Census Bureau’s annual Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States report. Real median household income gains were mixed throughout ethnicities between 2022 and 2023. They rose 5.4 percent for white households and 5.7 percent for non-Hispanic white households. There was little change in median incomes for Asian, black, and Hispanic households. The White House said the report’s findings indicate the administration has made “real progress growing the middle class,” but more work needs to be done to “lower poverty and build up the middle class.”...