INCOME, POVERTY AND HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE IN THE UNITED STATES: 2024

The following information was released by the United States Census Bureau:

The U.S. Census Bureau today announced that real median household income was $83,730 in 2024, not statistically different from the 2023 estimate of $82,690. The official poverty rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 10.6% in 2024. The following 2024 findings were all not statistically different from 2023. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2024 was 12.9%. Meanwhile, 92.0% of the U.S. population had health insurance coverage for all or part of 2024. An estimated 27.1 million or 8.0% of people did not have health insurance at any point during 2024, according to the 2025 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC).

These findings come from three Census Bureau reports: "Income in the United States: 2024," "Poverty in the United States: 2024," and "Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2024." While the official poverty measure is based on the concept of 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: 2024" report are based on the concept of money income. Appendix B of the income report provides post-tax estimates of median household income and income inequality metrics.

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 2025 CPS ASEC was collected using standard procedures, response rates are still lower than they were before the pandemic. The weighted response rate for the 2025 CPS ASEC was 62.0%, compared to 61.7% 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 2025 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

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

Median household income was $83,730 in 2024, not statistically different from the 2023 estimate of $82,690.

Between 2023 and 2024, median income increased by 5.1% for Asian households and 5.5% for Hispanic households, while it declined by 3.3% for Black households. Median income did not change significantly for White or White non-Hispanic households. (The difference between the 2023-2024 percentage change in median household income for Asian householders and Hispanic householders was not statistically significant.)

Income inequality as measured by the Gini index was not significantly different between 2023 and 2024.

Household income at the 90th percentile increased 4.2%, but did not significantly change at the 10th and 50th percentiles between 2023 and 2024.

Earnings

Among full-time, year-round workers, median earnings increased 3.7% for men, but did not change significantly for women between 2023 and 2024.

Female-to-Male Earnings Ratio

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 2024 fell to 80.9% from 82.7% in 2023. This is the second consecutive annual decrease in the female-to-male earnings ratio.

Post-Tax Income

Post-tax income is defined as money income net of federal and state taxes and credits, as well as payroll taxes (FICA). Appendix B of the income report compares household median income and inequality measures based on post-tax income.

Median post-tax household income increased by 1.8% from $71,040 in 2023 to $72,330 in 2024.

Inequality, as measured by the Gini index, was 8.7% lower when calculated using post-tax income compared to pretax income.

Poverty

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 2024 was $32,130. (Refer to https://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.)

Official Poverty Measure

In 2024, the official poverty rate fell 0.4 percentage points to 10.6%. There were 35.9 million people in poverty in 2024.

Between 2023 and 2024, the official poverty rate decreased for White, Asian and Hispanic individuals, but did not change significantly for other race groups discussed in the report.

Supplemental Poverty Measure

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 2024 was 12.9%, not statistically different from 2023.

Between 2023 and 2024, SPM rates increased for those 65 years old and older and for Black individuals, but did not change significantly for other groups discussed in the report.

Social Security continues to be the largest antipoverty program, moving 28.7 million individuals out of SPM poverty in 2024.

Differences in Poverty Measures

In 2024, nearly all the groups discussed in the poverty report had higher SPM rates than official poverty rates estimated using the same universe as the SPM. Only those under 18 years old and people living in cohabiting partner units had higher poverty rates using the official poverty measure with a consistent universe.

The share of the population with resources below 50% of their poverty threshold was higher using the official poverty measure with a consistent universe (5.0%) than when using the SPM (4.2%).

Health Insurance

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 2024, most people (92.0% or 310 million) had health insurance for some or all of the year.

In 2024, private health insurance coverage continued to be more prevalent than public coverage, at 66.1% and 35.5%, respectively.

Of the subtypes of health insurance coverage, employment-based insurance was the most common, covering 53.8% of the population for some or all of the calendar year, followed by Medicare (19.1%), Medicaid (17.6%), direct-purchase coverage (10.7%), TRICARE (2.8%), and VA and CHAMPVA coverage (1.2%).

The private coverage rate increased between 2023 and 2024 by 0.7 percentage points, driven by an increase in direct-purchase coverage.

The 2024 public coverage rate was 0.8 percentage points lower than the rate in 2023. This decrease was driven by a change in Medicaid coverage, which was 1.3 percentage points lower in 2024. Medicare coverage and VA and CHAMPVA coverage rates both increased between 2023 and 2024.

In 2024, private coverage rates for children under the age of 19 (63.0%) and for adults ages 19 to 64 (74.0%) increased from their 2023 rates of 61.2% and 73.1%, respectively. Public coverage rates decreased for both age groups. For children, the public coverage rate was 34.2% in 2024, down from 36.2% in 2023.

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/cpsmar25.pdf.