US Household Income Hit a Record $87,460 in 2025 — But the Poorest Americans Didn't See a Statistically Significant Gain

US dollar bills and a calculator are overlaid with a faded American flag, symbolizing national economics. (Credit: Image via Shutterstock)

Tanya Rawat

Fri, September 18, 2026 at 1:30 AM GMT+3 6 min read

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U.S. household income rose to a record high in 2025, but gains remained uneven across the income distribution, with higher-income households seeing an increase while the lowest-income group showed no statistically significant change.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its 2025 income, poverty and health insurance findings on Tuesday, showing real median household income increased 2.6% to $87,460, from the 2024 estimate of $85,210. It was the highest level since records began in 1967.

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Income Distribution

The Census Bureau said household income at the 90th percentile increased 1.7% in 2025, while income at the 10th percentile did not change significantly. In other words, households near the higher end of the income distribution saw measurable gains, while the lower end did not show a statistically significant increase.

Overall income inequality, as measured by the Gini index, was not significantly different from 2024. The Census finding therefore shows a record median income without a statistically significant year-over-year change in its broader inequality measure.

A January 2026 analysis of U.S. household finances highlighted the pressure from major household expenses, with housing, transportation and food among the largest spending categories.

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The Census Bureau said the median post-tax household income also increased 3.1% to $76,060 in 2025. The agency noted that income inequality measured using post-tax income was lower than when measured using pre-tax income.

Women And Poverty

Women also gained ground in 2025. Median earnings for full-time, year-round female workers increased 3.2%, while men's earnings did not change significantly. The female-to-male earnings ratio rose to 83.9% from 80.6%.

There were 34.5 million people in poverty in 2025, according to the agency. The official poverty rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 10.2%, while the Supplemental Poverty Measure remained at 13.1%. The official poverty measure uses pretax money income, while the Supplemental Poverty Measure also accounts for taxes, government benefits, and certain essential expenses.

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Health Insurance

The Census Bureau also reported that 26.7 million people, or 7.9% of the population, were uninsured for the entire year in 2025, a share that was not statistically different from 2024.

The income distribution figures come amid broader attention to income concentration. In June, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) cited Realtime Inequality estimates when arguing that income gains were increasingly concentrated among top earners. Those estimates use different data and methods from the Census Bureau's household-income measures.

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