The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the real median household income in 2024 was $83,730, a figure 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 data from the 2025 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), an estimated 92% of the U.S. population had health insurance coverage for all or part of 2024, while about 27.1 million people, or 8%, were uninsured at any point during the year.
The findings are based on three reports: “Income in the United States: 2024,” “Poverty in the United States: 2024,” and “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2024.” The Census Bureau has published annual SPM estimates since 2011 with support from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The SPM is a post-tax and transfer measure that provides an alternative view of economic well-being compared to the official poverty measure, which uses pretax money income and does not include tax credits.
Income estimates use money income as their basis for consistency with previous years’ reports, though Appendix B includes post-tax estimates and measures of inequality.
The CPS is a monthly survey conducted jointly by the Census Bureau and BLS and serves as a primary source for labor force statistics in the U.S., with supplements such as CPS ASEC providing national annual estimates on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage for the prior year.
Response rates for surveys remain lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic; for example, weighted response rates for CPS ASEC were reported at 62% in 2025 compared to pre-pandemic levels above this figure. Adjustments are made to survey weights to address nonresponse bias and ensure results represent national population totals.
To better understand how differences between respondents and nonrespondents may affect accuracy, ongoing research explores methods to reduce nonresponse bias using administrative data sources (see https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/research-matters/2025/09/using-administrative-data-to-evaluate-nonresponse-bias-in-the-2025-current-population-survey-annual-social-and-economic-supplement.html).
In detail:
– Median household income was unchanged overall but rose by over five percent for Asian and Hispanic households while declining by more than three percent among Black households.
– Income inequality measured by the Gini index did not show significant change.
– At higher income levels (90th percentile), household incomes increased by just over four percent; no significant changes occurred at lower or median percentiles.
– Among full-time workers, men saw a median earnings increase of nearly four percent; women’s earnings did not change significantly.
– The female-to-male earnings ratio fell again in 2024 to just under eighty-one percent.
When accounting for taxes and credits, median post-tax household income increased slightly by about two percent compared to last year’s figure ($72,330 versus $71,040). Inequality measured after taxes was nearly nine percent lower than when measured before taxes.
The weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four reached $32,130 in 2024 (full thresholds available at https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html).
A total of approximately thirty-six million people lived below this threshold last year. Poverty rates decreased among White, Asian, and Hispanic individuals but did not change significantly among other racial groups included in these analyses.
The SPM takes into account additional resources like government programs that assist low-income families as well as geographic cost-of-living variations. In contrast with official measures:
– The SPM rate increased among seniors aged sixty-five or older and Black individuals but was stable across other groups.
– Social Security remained critical as an antipoverty program; it moved almost twenty-nine million people out of SPM-defined poverty last year.
– Most groups had higher SPM rates than official poverty rates except those under eighteen years old or living with cohabiting partners.
– Fewer people had resources below half their poverty threshold under SPM than under official measures.
Regarding health insurance:
– Ninety-two percent had some form of coverage during all or part of last year.
– Private health insurance remained more common than public options (66% vs. roughly 36%).
– Employment-based plans covered over half the population; Medicare covered nineteen percent; Medicaid seventeen-and-a-half percent; direct-purchase policies about eleven percent; TRICARE almost three percent; VA/CHAMPVA just over one percent.
– Private coverage increased due mainly to more direct-purchase policies while public coverage declined due primarily to reduced Medicaid enrollment.
– Both children under nineteen and adults aged nineteen through sixty-four saw increases in private coverage alongside decreases in public coverage participation.
State-level data tables are available through each report’s press kit materials online.
All comparisons within these reports have been tested at a ninety-percent confidence level unless otherwise noted. Further details on methodology can be found at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar25.pdf.
“The official poverty rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 10.6% in 2024.”
“The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2024 was 12.9%.”
“92.0% of the U.S. population had health insurance coverage for all or part of 2024.”
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