On Sept. 9, 2025, the U.S. Census Bureau will release a new report comparing estimates of median income and earnings between 2023 and 2024 and historical income and earnings dating back to 1967. The report, Income in the United States: 2024, is based on information collected in the 2025 and earlier Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC) conducted by the Census Bureau.

To account for changes in the cost of living, the Census Bureau adjusts all prior year income and earnings estimates for inflation using price indices produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There are numerous price indices available to the Census Bureau to use for this adjustment, but no single price index is available for all years for which income estimates are available. The Census Bureau currently uses the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) to inflation adjust income estimates from 2000 onward. The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers Retroactive Series (R-CPI-U-RS), the CPI-U-X1 series (an experimental series that preceded the R-CPI-U-RS), and the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) are used for years prior to 2000. For more detailed information on how income is inflation adjusted using the current method, refer to Current versus Constant (or Real) Dollars.

According to the C-CPI-U, prices increased by 2.6% between 2023 and 2024. This estimate represents a fall in the inflation rate from 2023, which was 3.9%.

In nominal terms, meaning unadjusted for inflation, the median income for all U.S. households in 2023 was $80,610. In real terms, meaning adjusted to 2024 dollars, median income in 2023 was $82,690. The difference (2.6%) reflects the inflation rate between 2023 and 2024 according to the C-CPI-U. When the Census Bureau releases income and earnings statistics for 2024, the estimated change in income and earnings between 2023 and 2024 will compare the 2024 nominal estimates to the real 2023 estimates (adjusted to 2024 dollars). The difference between the two sets of estimates (both in 2024 dollars) will reflect any change in real income and earnings between the two years.

In 2023, the Census Bureau began using the C-CPI-U to adjust CPS ASEC historical income estimates from 2000 onward. The change to the C-CPI-U was made following a recommendation from an Interagency Technical Working Group on Consumer Inflation Measures and a multi-year period of public engagement. For more information about the decision to use the C-CPI-U, the relative merits of alternative inflation indices, and implications for the CPS ASEC’s historical estimates of income and earnings, visit Alternative Inflation Indices for Adjusting Historical Income Estimates From the CPS ASEC.