US Median Household Income Hits Record $87,460 in 2025

U.S. median household income reached a record high of $87,460 in 2025, marking a significant milestone in the nation's economic recovery, according to new data from the Census Bureau. The inflation-adjusted figure represents a 2.6% increase from 2024 and surpasses the previous peak of $85,320 set in 2019, capping a six-year effort to regain ground lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. The official poverty rate also fell to 10.2%, down half a percentage point from the prior year and the lowest level since the government began tracking it. The child poverty rate dropped a full point to 13.4%, also a historic low. These improvements occurred even as many Americans continued to report feeling financially squeezed by high costs for housing, groceries, and utilities. However, the gains were not evenly distributed across the income spectrum. The top 10% of earners saw their incomes grow by 1.7% to $261,300, while the poorest 10% of households experienced no significant change. This divergence widened the income inequality ratio to 13.1, up from 12.7 in 2024, though still below the record of 13.5 set in 2021.