SEPT. 15, 2026 — The U.S. Census Bureau today announced that real median household income was $87,460 in 2025, the highest on record dating back to 1967.

The official poverty rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 10.2% in 2025. The following 2025 findings were not statistically different from 2024: the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2025 was 13.1% and in 2025, 26.7 million people (7.9%) were uninsured for the entire year, according to the 2026 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC).

These findings come from three Census Bureau reports, “Income in the United States: 2025,” “Poverty in the United States: 2025” and “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2025.” 

While the official poverty measure is based on money income, which is pretax and does not include tax credits, the SPM is a post-tax and transfer poverty measure. The SPM provides an alternative way of measuring poverty in the United States and serves as an additional indicator of economic well-being. The Census Bureau has published poverty estimates using the SPM annually since 2011 in collaboration with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

For consistency with past reports, the income estimates in the “Income in the United States: 2025” report are based on the concept of money income. Estimates of post-tax household income and income inequality are also available in the report.

All three reports are based on data from the CPS ASEC. The Current Population Survey (CPS), sponsored jointly by the Census Bureau and BLS, is conducted monthly and is a primary source of labor force statistics for the U.S. population. Supplements are added in most months. The CPS ASEC — conducted in February, March and April — is designed to provide annual, national estimates of income, poverty and health insurance, collecting information about job status, income and health insurance coverage for the prior calendar year.

Although the 2026 CPS ASEC was collected using standard procedures, response rates are still lower than they were before the pandemic. The weighted response rate for the 2026 CPS ASEC was 61.3% compared to 62.0% for the previous year.

As response rates decline, the risk of bias increases. To reduce the bias, the CPS ASEC program includes adjustments to survey weights for nonresponse and controls them to population totals to ensure the CPS ASEC results are representative of the U.S. population.

Since response rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, examining how respondents differ from nonrespondents is important, as this difference could affect the accuracy of the estimates. For more details on how sample differences and the associated nonresponse bias impact income and official poverty estimates, refer to the Research Matters blog, “Using Administrative Data to Evaluate Nonresponse Bias in the 2026 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.” This blog also discusses ongoing research into new methods that could better address nonresponse bias and other sources of nonsampling error.

Income estimates are based on money income and do not account for the value of in-kind transfers. They are pretax, unless otherwise indicated.

• Median household income was $87,460 in 2025, an increase of 2.6% from the 2024 estimate of $85,210. Household income in 2025 was the highest on record dating back to 1967.
• Between 2024 and 2025, median income increased by 3.0% for White households, 2.9% for non-Hispanic White households, and 4.8% for Black households. Median income did not change significantly for Asian or Hispanic households. The differences among the 2024-2025 percent changes in median household income for all race and ethnicity groups were not statistically significant.
• Income inequality as measured by the Gini index was not significantly different between 2024 and 2025.
• Household income at the 90th percentile increased 1.7% but did not significantly change at the 10th percentile between 2024 and 2025. 

• Among full-time, year-round workers, median earnings increased 3.2% for women but did not change significantly for men between 2024 and 2025. 

The female-to-male earnings ratio compares the median earnings of women and men, both working full-time, year-round.

• For full-time, year-round workers, the female-to-male earnings ratio in 2025 increased to 83.9% from 80.6% in 2024.

Post-tax income is defined as money income net of federal and state taxes and credits, as well as payroll taxes (FICA).

• Median post-tax household income increased by 3.1% from $73,760 in 2024 to $76,060 in 2025.
• Inequality, as measured by the Gini index, was 8.7% lower when calculated using post-tax income compared to pretax income.

As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive 14 and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2025 was $32,970. (Visit www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html for the complete set of dollar value thresholds that vary by family size and composition.) 

• In 2025, the official poverty rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 10.2%. There were 34.5 million people in poverty in 2025.
• The official poverty rate for children fell to a historic low of 13.4% in 2025.
• Between 2024 and 2025, the official poverty rate for Hispanic individuals decreased to a historic low of 13.9%.

The SPM extends the official poverty measure by accounting for several government programs designed to assist low-income families that are not included in official poverty measure calculations. The SPM, which also accounts for geographic variation in housing expenses when calculating the poverty thresholds, includes federal and state taxes, work expenses, and medical expenses. The SPM does not replace the official poverty measure. However, it does provide a different metric of economic well-being that includes resources from government programs and tax credits to low-income families.

• The SPM rate in 2025 was 13.1%, not statistically different from 2024.
• Between 2024 and 2025, SPM rates increased for those without a high school diploma but did not change significantly for the other groups discussed in this report.
• Social Security continues to be the largest antipoverty program, moving 28.8 million individuals out of SPM poverty in 2025. 

The CPS ASEC asks people about health insurance coverage during the previous calendar year. People are considered insured if they were covered by any type of health insurance for part or all of the previous calendar year. People are considered uninsured if, for the entire year, they were not covered by any type of insurance. Among the findings:

• In 2025, 26.7 million people (7.9%) were uninsured for the entire year, not statistically different from 2024.
• Of the subtypes of health insurance coverage, employment-based insurance was the most common, covering 53.5% of the population for some or all of the calendar year, followed by Medicare (20.1%), Medicaid (17.1%), direct-purchase coverage (10.5%), TRICARE (2.8%), and VA and CHAMPVA coverage (1.2%).
• The share of individuals covered by public health insurance was 35.8% in 2025, not statistically different from 2024. While Medicare coverage increased by 0.6 percentage points, Medicaid coverage decreased by 0.5 percentage points.
• Public coverage for adults ages 19 to 64 declined by 0.5 percentage points in 2025 to 17.3%. This was driven by a 0.6-percentage-point decrease in Medicaid coverage for adults ages 19 to 64. Between 2024 and 2025, the estimated percentage-point change of adults ages 19 to 64 with public coverage was not statistically different from the estimated percentage-point change of adults ages 19 to 64 with Medicaid coverage.
• In 2025, 41.5% of adults 65 years and older held private coverage, down 2.8 percentage points from 2024. This decrease was driven by a 1.5 percentage-point drop in employment-based coverage and a 1.4 percentage-point drop in direct-purchase coverage for adults age 65 and older. Between 2024 and 2025, the estimated percentage-point change of adults age 65 and older with employment-based coverage was not statistically different from the estimated percentage-point change of adults age 65 and older with direct-purchase coverage.

Regional estimates are available for income, poverty and health insurance coverage in each respective report. Tables showing state-level poverty and SPM rates using three-year averages are available in the press kit. 

The CPS ASEC is subject to sampling and nonsampling errors. All comparisons made here and in each respective report have been tested and found to be statistically significant at the 90% confidence level, unless otherwise noted.

Additional information on the source of the data and accuracy of the income, poverty and health insurance estimates is available at https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/techdocs/cpsmar26.pdf.

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