U.S. Median Income and Poverty Rates Unchanged in 2012

Median household income and nationwide poverty rates remained largely unchanged between 2011 and 2012, according to the U.S. Census’ Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012 report. The data in the report are from the latest Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC), which asked detailed questions about income, poverty and health insurance levels to measure change at the national and regional levels. The CPS ASEC is also the official source of national poverty estimates.Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012 shows that while the median household income did not fall for the first time since 2007, the 2012 figure ($51,017) was still 8.3% lower in real terms than the 2007 median household income (the year before the recession) and 9% lower than 1999 (when median household income was at its peak). Poverty rates also did not improve: the official poverty rate was 15% in 2012 with 46.5 million people living in poverty. There was no statistical difference between 2012 and either 2011 or 2010 but the poverty rate was still 2.5% higher than in 2007. For most demographic groups, median household incomes and poverty rates did not experience a statistically significant change from the previous year but the number of persons living in poverty did increase among persons aged 65 and older, living in the South, and also among those living outside metropolitan statistical areas. Among the nation’s regions, only the West experienced a statistically significant change in median household income (a 3.2% increase) and poverty rate (down from 15.8% to 15%). The West also had the highest median household income ($55,157) in 2012 compared to the Northeast ($54,627), followed by the Midwest ($50,479) and the South ($48,033). Specific types of family and non-family households, including single female headed households, also saw no statistically significant change in median income between 2011 and 2012. However, there is still a significant difference in median income between these types of households: married-couple households had the highest median income in 2012 ($75,694) and family households with single female householders had the lowest median income ($34,002). In 2012, 6.3% of married-couple households lived in poverty, compared to 16.4% of families with a male head of household and 30.9% of families with a female head of household. The report also measured depth of poverty, a step beyond the “in poverty” or “not in poverty” categories. A household with an income-to-poverty ratio (how close a household is to the poverty threshold) of 125% is 25% above the poverty threshold whereas a household with an income-to-poverty ratio of 50% is 50% below their poverty threshold. In 2012, 20.4 million people reported incomes below 50% of their poverty threshold. Of these, 7.1 million were children under 18, 12.1 million were between 18 and 64 years old, and 1.2 million were 65 and older. Finally, the report addressed income inequality in the United States: the Gini index (one measure of income inequality with 0.00 denoting complete equality and 1.00 complete inequality) was .48 in 2012. While income equality did not experience a statistically significant difference between 2011 and 2012, it has increased since 1999 with the income ratio between the lowest and highest income quintile increasing 14.5%. The full report is available at: http://1.usa.gov/1boXQ4q