According to estimates released today by the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), the median household income in the United States will fall by 0.8 percent in 2022. Last year’s median household income was $74,755, adjusted for inflation.
Despite median household income adjusted for inflation, the decline is an indication of why Americans are worried about the current state of the economy.
Five states — Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Florida and Utah — see median household income increase by 2022, while 17 states see a decrease. Twenty-eight states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico saw no significant differences, the survey found.
New Jersey has the highest median household income of any state at $96,346, while the District of Columbia sees the highest in the nation overall with $101,027. Mississippi ranked the lowest of any state at $52,719 and Puerto Rico saw the lowest overall median household income at $24,112.
In June 2022 consumer prices reached 9.1 percent, a forty-year high, compared to the previous year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Food, housing and fuel saw the biggest price increases last year. The inflation rate has increased again this August, due to the drastic increase in the price of gasoline.
According to the Census income distribution measurement the Gini Index, income inequality in the US increased between 2021 and 2022.
The survey collects information from households based on social, economic, housing and demographic characteristics. The Census said it plans to release additional ACS statistics in the coming months, including a 5-year estimate covering data from 2018 to 2022.
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