money
The Census Bureau reported an increase in median household income and a decrease in poverty in 2015 in the United States.
(Associated Press)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Inflation-adjusted household income increased in the United States last year for the first time since 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Tuesday.
The median household income of $56,516 in 2015 was up 5.2 percent over $53,718 in 2014.
At the same time, the bureau said, poverty declined nationally and the number of households without health insurance also shrunk.
Local data will be released Thursday. Here's a summary of the new national estimates released by the bureau on Tuesday.
Median Household Income
Increased employment was the chief reason for the increase in income last year, the bureau said. The number of full-time workers was up 2.5 million nationally.
Income was up for these major race and ethnic groups:
- Asian: $77,166, up from $74,382.
- White non-Hispanic: $62,950, up from $60,325.
- White: $60,109, up from $56,932.
- Hispanic of any race: $45,148, up from $42,540.
- Black: $36,898, up from $35,439
While the median household income was $56,516 for all households, it was significantly higher for families - households with at least two related people living together. Median family income in 2015 was $72,165, up from $68,504 in 2014.
Here is a snapshot of inflation-adjusted median household income over the years in the United States (in 2015 dollars). There is a broken line in 2013 due to redesigned income questions in the census survey.
Poverty rate
The nation's poverty rate fell from 14.8 percent to 13.5 percent. The poverty rate in 2007 - the year before the recession - was 14.5 percent.
The number of people living in poverty dropped by 3.5 million last year, yet 43.1 million Americans remained in poverty.
A family of four is considered in poverty if annual income is below $24,036.
Nearly one in five children remain in poverty, with a rate of 19.7 percent in 2015 versus 21.1 percent in 2014.
For ages 18 to 64, the poverty rate was 12.4 percent, down from 13.5 percent.
The lowest poverty rate is among senior citizens, in large part because of Social Security. It was 8.8 percent in 2015, down from 10 percent.
The poverty rate in the United States fell in 2015. Here is a comparison over the years.
Uninsured rate
Some 90.9 percent of people had health insurance for at least part of 2015, up from 89.6 percent in 2014.
A little more than two-thirds of the people have private insurance and a little more than one-third have government insurance. Some have both.
The new estimates break down insurance coverage this way:
- Employer-based - 55.7 percent.
- Medicaid - 19.6 percent.
- Medicare - 16.3 percent.
- Direct purchase - 16.3 percent.
- Military-based - 4.7 percent.
The total is more than 100 percent because some people have more than one type of insurance.
The percentage of people in the United States without health insurance fell again in 2015, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. This graphs shows the trends from two surveys conducted by the bureau.
Rich Exner, data analysis editor for cleveland.com, writes about numbers on a variety of topics. Follow on Twitter @RichExner or see previous stories at cleveland.com/datacentral.