Median Income and Inequality

Gloria Guzman at the US Census:

Median household income for the United States and 14 states increased significantly in 2018 from the previous year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released today.

The 2018 American Community Survey (ACS) shows that median household income rose between 2017 and 2018 for 10 of the 25 most populous metropolitan areas.


However, the Gini index of income inequality was significantly higher during the same period for the nation and nine states.

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Real median household income in the United States increased 0.8% to $61,937 between 2017 and 2018.

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 Median household income for the nation has been increasing every year since 2013, but the year-to-year increase from 2017 is smaller than the prior three years. Previously, increases ranged between 1.8% and 3.3% annually.

The Gini index for the United States from the 2018 ACS (0.485) was significantly higher than the 2017 ACS estimate (0.482).

The index increased in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia.

The District of Columbia (0.524) and Puerto Rico (0.542) had the highest Gini indexes and Utah (0.427) was among the lowest.