*The supplemental poverty measure, which is considered the main gauge of poverty as it is adjusted for government support such as food assistance and tax credits, as well as household expenses, was 12.9% in 2024, similar to the previous year, the Census Bureau said.

*The official poverty rate fell slightly to 10.6% from 11.1% in 2023.

*Real median household income was $83,730 in 2024, not significantly different from 2023, bureau officials said.

*Median income increased by 5.1% for Asian households and 5.5% for Hispanic households, while it declined by 3.3% for Black households in 2024. It did not change significantly for white households.

“We’re seeing that household income and earnings kept pace with inflation,” Liana Fox, bureau assistant division chief for social, economic and housing statistics, told reporters.

“It’s a story of stability, but not necessarily growth – except at the top end of the income distribution,” she said.

“I think it’s a surprisingly positive message in a lot of ways,” said Scott Winship, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the director of the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility. “To me, the basic story is an underlying strong economy that temporarily was propped up by an unprecedented federal response to the pandemic that was actually an over response that is inextricably connected to the inflation that happened afterwards and that really determined the course of the presidential election in 2024.”

The Census data covered the end of the Biden administration and progressive economists warned that the numbers should not lessen concern about the impact on poverty rates of new policies enacted by the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Congress.

“While median earnings and incomes held strong in 2024, it’s important to remember that these data do not say anything about 2025,” said Elise Gould, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute. “Trump policies—chaotic and high tariffs, mass deportations, attacks on the federal workforce—have already led to a softening labor market and more inflationary pressures.”

Matt Weidinger, a senior Fellow and Rowe Scholar at AEI, argued that the data should not be overlooked because it doesn’t cover the first months of the Trump administration.

“Since this is a Trump administration, I suspect this data will be somewhat underplayed because it’s not about the Trump administration, it’s about the last year of the Biden administration,” Weidinger said. “I think this is a good report. Median income is up. Married household income was up strongly . . . . I think overall the big picture here is a strong report that I think for various reasons will probably not get the airtime that it deserves. But we’ll be back at this next year to see how things have changed in the meantime.”|