The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the real median household income in 2024 was $83,730, which is not statistically different from the previous year’s estimate of $82,690. The official poverty rate declined by 0.4 percentage points to 10.6% in 2024. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate stood at 12.9%, showing no significant change from 2023. According to the 2025 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), 92% of the U.S. population had health insurance coverage for all or part of the year, while an estimated 27.1 million people, or 8%, did not have health insurance at any point during 2024.
These statistics are drawn from three reports: “Income in the United States: 2024,” “Poverty in the United States: 2024,” and “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2024.” The official poverty measure is based on pretax money income and does not include tax credits, while the SPM is a post-tax and transfer measure that provides an alternative perspective on economic well-being. The Census Bureau has released annual SPM estimates since 2011 in partnership with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Income estimates continue to be based on money income for consistency with previous reports, but Appendix B of this year’s report also offers post-tax estimates and measures of income inequality.
The CPS ASEC collects information about job status, income, and health insurance coverage for the prior calendar year through surveys conducted each February to April. This supplement aims to provide annual national estimates on these topics and is a joint effort between the Census Bureau and BLS.
Response rates for CPS ASEC remain below pre-pandemic levels; in 2025, the weighted response rate was 62%, slightly higher than last year’s rate of 61.7%. Lower response rates can increase bias risk, so adjustments are made to survey weights for nonresponse and controlled against population totals to maintain representativeness.
Ongoing research continues into how differences between respondents and nonrespondents may affect data accuracy. More information about these efforts can be found on the Research Matters blog “Using Administrative Data to Evaluate Nonresponse Bias in the 2025 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.”
Income figures do not account for in-kind transfers unless otherwise specified.
Median household income remained largely unchanged from last year overall but saw increases among Asian households (up by 5.1%) and Hispanic households (up by 5.5%), while Black households experienced a decline of 3.3%. Median incomes did not significantly change for White or White non-Hispanic households.
The Gini index showed no significant change in income inequality between years. Household income at the top decile increased by over four percent; there were no significant changes at lower percentiles.
Among full-time, year-round workers, men’s median earnings rose by nearly four percent; women’s earnings showed no significant change compared to last year. The female-to-male earnings ratio dropped from nearly eighty-three percent in 2023 to just under eighty-one percent in 2024—marking a second consecutive yearly decrease.
Post-tax median household income increased by nearly two percent from $71,040 to $72,330 over one year’s time span. Calculating inequality using post-tax rather than pretax income reduced measured inequality by almost nine percent.
According to definitions updated annually for inflation using Consumer Price Index data (https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html), the average poverty threshold for a family of four was $32,130 in 2024.
The number of people living below this threshold fell as well; there were approximately thirty-six million people classified as poor last year—a decrease seen primarily among White, Asian, and Hispanic individuals according to official measures.
The SPM accounts for government programs like tax credits that help low-income families but are excluded from official calculations; it also adjusts thresholds geographically based on housing costs as well as other expenses such as taxes or medical bills but does not replace traditional metrics.
Social Security remains central among antipoverty programs—it moved nearly twenty-nine million individuals above SPM poverty lines last year alone.
For most groups covered by this report except those under eighteen years old or cohabiting partner units—SPM rates were higher than official poverty rates calculated using consistent populations.
Those with resources less than half their poverty threshold represented five percent under official measurement versus just over four percent when using SPM methodology.
Health insurance findings indicate that private coverage continued to outpace public coverage—66% versus just over thirty-five percent respectively—with employment-based plans being most common (covering more than half of Americans). Medicare insured nineteen percent; Medicaid covered nearly eighteen percent; direct-purchase plans covered roughly eleven percent; TRICARE covered almost three percent; VA/CHAMPVA plans insured just over one percent.
Private insurance rates rose due mainly to more direct-purchase coverage while public coverage fell—primarily because fewer people were enrolled in Medicaid even though Medicare participation increased.
Children under nineteen years old saw an uptick in private coverage rates alongside adults aged nineteen through sixty-four compared with previous years’ figures.
State-level data on poverty and SPM rates averaged across three years can be found within each respective report’s tables.
All comparisons mentioned here are statistically significant at a ninety-percent confidence level unless otherwise stated.
Further details about data sources or accuracy are available at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar25.pdf.
