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A recent Census Bureau report examined income and poverty in America.
The report, released Wednesday, found no statistical difference in real median household income in 2014 from the previous year.
The poverty rate remained unchanged as well. Curiously, however, the poverty rate increased for “people aged 25 and older with at least a bachelor’s degree and married-couple families,” according to the report.
Real median household income in 2014 was 6.5 percent lower than in 2007. For the third consecutive year, the annual change in income was not statistically significant, and the two years before that stagnation had annual declines.
For non-Hispanic white households, real median income declined 1.7 percent, but for other races, the changes were not statistically significant.
While employment and job growth has been increasing, wages remain stagnant. The economy isn’t lurching, and signs of improvement are coming through, but when population growth is factored in, average growth has been tepid at best.
Income levels and poverty still show gaps based on race and ethnicity, CityLab notes.
Asian families have the highest median income at $74,297, followed by white families at $60,256, but Hispanic and black families have the lowest incomes at $42,491 and $25,398, respectively.
White families have the lowest poverty rates at 10 percent, followed by Asians, Hispanics, and black families with 12 percent, 24 percent, and 26 percent, respectively.
The over-arching theme of the report reflects that unemployment and poverty aren’t growing, but prosperity and job growth hasn’t increased from its years-long flatline.
