Household income in the United States

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Household income is an economic standard that can be applied to one household, or aggregated across a large group such as a county, city, or the whole country. It is commonly used by the United States government and private institutions to describe a household's economic status or to track economic trends in the US.

A key measure of household income is the median income, at which half of households have income above that level and half below. The U.S. Census Bureau reports two median household income estimates based on data from two surveys: the Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement and the American Community Survey (ACS). The CPS ASEC is the recommended source for national-level estimates, whereas the ACS gives estimates for many geographic levels.^{[2]: 19 [3]: 10  [4]}According to the CPS, the median household income was $70,784 in 2021.^[5][2] According to the ACS, the U.S. median household income in 2018 was $61,937.^[3] Estimates for previous years are given in terms of real income, which have been adjusted for changes to the price of goods and services.

The distribution of U.S. household income has become more unequal since around 1980, with the income share received by the top 1% trending upward from around 10% or less over the 1953–1981 period to over 20% by 2007.^[6] Since the end of the Great Recession, income inequality in the US has gone down slightly, and at an accelerated pace since 2019.^{[7] [8]}