Inflation ate away any financial gains in most households, census finds

Richest households still saw their income rise, data from the Census Bureau shows

Most Americans’ median household income was basically unchanged between 2023 and 2024 when factoring in inflation, according to newly released census data.

During that period, median household income grew from $82,690 to $83,730, a level not statistically significant. The figure has remained largely unchanged since the year before the Covid pandemic, underscoring the economic challenges that drove many voters to reject the high inflation of the late Biden administration during the 2024 election.

Despite the overall trend, some groups fared better than others, according to the data.

The richest 10 percent saw their income rise by 4.2 percent, while households in the 10th and 50th percentiles of wealth did not see significant year-over-year changes.

On the other end of the scale, the official poverty level remained largely unchanged at 10.6 percent, with 35.9 million estimated to be in poverty in 2024. A wider measure of poverty put the figure at 12.9 percent of the population, also largely unchanged from the year prior. Medical expenses pushed more than 7 million Americans into poverty in 2024, according to the Census Bureau.

Census data shows inflation cancelling out most gains in income for American households between 2023 and 2024, as anxiety continues over impact of Trump tariffs (AP)

Black households saw a 3.3 percent decline in median income during the period covered by the data, while Asian and Hispanic households saw income increases of about 5 percent. Income levels for white households remained steady.

Among full-time, year-round workers, men’s median earnings increased 3.7 percent, while the same figure did not significantly change between 2023 and 2024 for women. Overall, women made just over 80 percent of what their male counterparts did during the period of the data, a modest decrease in the wage gap from the year before.

Regionally, incomes in the West and Northeast increased, while those in the South and Midwest remained largely the same.

According to observers, overall economic direction helps explain the ongoing economic anxiety surrounding inflation and the potential effects of the Trump administration’s tariffs, which kicked into force last month.

Economic challenges look set to continue, as August jobs numbers were poor during same month large-scale Trump tariffs kicked in (AFP/Getty)

“The middle class is tapped out,” Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, told The Wall Street Journal.

The largely flat income data comes on the heels of an August jobs report showing the U.S. economy only added 22,000 positions last month, below predictions.

The report was the first since Trump’s global tariffs took effect and since the president fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner Erika McEntarfer, accusing the official, without evidence, of manipulating economic data to harm Republicans and boost Democrats.

The White House has continued to question the integrity of official government data, following a revision to BLS figures that showed the U.S. labor market created 911,000 fewer jobs between April 2024 and March 2025 than previously thought.

Though BLS figures are revised multiple times before being finalized due to new information, the administration claimed the revision showed the agency is “broken.”

“This makes it very clear that President Trump inherited a much worse economy by the Biden administration than ever reported,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “And it also proves that the Federal Reserve is holding our monetary policy far too restrictive. Interest rates are too high. The Fed needs to cut the rates because of the mess that we inherited from the Biden administration.”

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published Tuesday found 53 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the economy, while 36 percent approve. Just 30 percent of respondents supported the president's handling of the cost of living for U.S. households.