Incomes hit new record high and poverty fell to pre-recession low in 2017

By Joseph Lawler

Published September 12, 2018 2:27pm ET

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Incomes hit new record high and poverty fell to pre-recession low in 2017 — Many researchers see a flaw in the official income and poverty rate, namely that it only counts cash income and excludes some of the in-kind government benefits that have grown in recent years, such as food stamps. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green) | M. Spencer Green

Typical family incomes rose to new record highs in 2017, and poverty subsided to pre-recession lows, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

Median household income rose to $61,400, according to the bureau’s Current Population Survey, improving 1.8 percent on the previous year’s mark of $60,300. Over the past two years, median incomes appear to have eclipsed, finally, the all-time high set in the dotcom bubble year of 1999, adjusting for inflation.

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Tag:

Census Census Bureau Income Inequality Poverty