Median Household Income In America Tops $60,000
Official median household income data for 2017 has finally been released. The Census Bureau American Community Survey data for 2017 shows the median household income for 2017 was $61,372, an increase of 1.8 percent. This equates to an increase of $1,492 for a typical U.S. household.
Humans tend to like “milestone-type” numbers, and passing $60,000 is indeed one of those markers.
After passing the $50,000 mark in 2007 and 2008, it dipped below $50k again in 2009 and 2010 from the recession. Then it climbed back over $50k in 2011 and has been in the $50,000’s since then.
Inflation-adjusted median household incomes grew in 40 states and the District of Columbia, with 10 seeing a decline.
I mapped out the data by state:
I planned on doing a bit of analysis of the data from 2016 – 2017, but the folks at the Economic Policy Institute beat me to it. And they have better web programmers. Check out their interactive site that shows changes from 2016 – 2017, as well as changes since 2007 before the recession.
The three states with the highest percentage increase from 2016 (inflation adjusted) are:
- Washington D.C.: 6.8%
- Montana: 4.5%
- California and Maine: (tied) 3.8%
The three states with the highest percentage decline from 2016 (inflation adjusted) are:
- Alaska: -6.3%
- Vermont: -2.4%
- New Mexico: -2.1%
The states that saw a decline in median household income in 2017 were: Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming
For the fist time ever a state has crested the $80,000 median income mark. And three of them did it (well, 2 states and D.C. to be technical…) – Washington D.C. ($82,372), New Jersey ($80,088), and Maryland ($80,776)
Of note, median income in the District of Columbia grew 9.1% from 2016 – 2017 to $82,372, a whopping 9.1% increase. Read more about the richest area in America and how it’s just getting richer in this Washington Post article.
The ECI article above has the D.C. increase at 6.8% but they are adjusting for inflation.
Another interesting look at the data is by education attainment:
| Educational Attainment of Household Head | 2016 Median Household Income (2017 dollars) | 2017 Median Household Income (2017 dollars) |
| All education levels | $60,309 | $61,372 |
| Less than high school | 28,000 | 28,511 |
| High school or equivalent | 42,800 | 44,010 |
| Some college | 55,835 | 57,200 |
| Bachelor’s degree or higher | 95,212 | 98,038 |
I plan to dig into this data when time allows to see if they reveal any further trends worth discussing.
It is nice to see median household incomes increasing that are inflation adjusted. HCOL areas that have the higher household income likely have a lot of that negated because of living expenses associated with those areas (something to consider before everyone flocks to the top 3 states).
Yep, comparing these incomes to expenses blows up in complexity because county and municipal taxes start affecting it, so the variance is large and hard to measure.
That’s a pretty neat map. OR is right around average. That’s probably low for the west coast, though.
Sometimes it’s ok to be average 😉
It’s encouraging to see the gains are spread across all education levels. You’d expect returns to higher education to tick upward in our bifurcated labor market (highly-skilled, traded jobs vs. low-skilled) but seeing progress at the lower end is encouraging.
Tight labor markets benefit all participants. One fear I have for rising pay however is the increased incentive to replace labor with automation. I suspect the trend in corporate profits continuing to reach all-time highs while wage pressures remaining subdued for where we are in the economic cycle is partly due to this dynamic.
Regardless, it speaks to the incentive to engage in work that requires information synthesis, critical thinking, and creativity. If your primary work tasks are routine processes, you should be looking to upgrade your skills because your position could easily be automated.
Thanks for sharing. I’m glad to see someone else ferrets through Census ACS data.
The way automation plays out will be fascinating indeed. The simple theory is that it will accelerate earnings for highly skilled/STEM workers, and hurt blue collar. I think it’ll be more complicated than that.
I saw the headline for the median income data in the paper earlier this week, but this is a nice review with fun and colorful maps! Looks like the D.C. metro area continues to do very well – of course, as you know, cost of living is pretty high here…
The gentrification of D.C. continues unabated, and the median salary #’s reflect that. Will be interesting to see if COL in the city keeps going with it. Paying $9 for a craft beer at a bar is already ridiculous, but I think it’ll get worse
The biggest thing for me on this map is to see where we will move in retirement. I look at this and see, okay we can live best where? My wife and I are getting itchy feet, and are ever closer to leaving the North East for good!
Scratch that itch!
Yep, I’m not surprised that Washington tops $70k across the state; my city is over $100k now and it is nowhere near unique.
I’m a bit surprised to see the full $10k difference between Washington and Oregon actually, pretty interesting
I believe it. Outside of Portland, Oregon is still quite affordable (with incomes to match).
Thank for this update. This is greatness! I scoured this US map and I keep saying to myself, “how in the Hell does anyone live on $______ while residing in _______?!!! For instance, How in the Hell does anyone live on $63,000 residing in Rhode Island?!!!
Really diving deep into this map state-by-state, it looks ugly (based on median income).
Short answer, they probably either live more frugally than most, or are in more debt. Or a combo of both
I find median income is only something to be mentioned in the same breathe as regional cost of living associated. You have shown how much it costs in regions to live and I would assume your new map overlays in direct correlation to that. Nice data mining on this and for sharing with us
I’ve done analysis previously as related to COL, specifically the big three. COL gets complex though since different counties in America have different tax laws, and of course you have to make more generalizations about people and what they do or don’t buy.
That being said you are giving people enough information to come to their own conclusion if they look back through your posts, well done.
I take it the 1.8% rise was after adjusting for inflation?
Nice to see growth, even moderate growth, although it makes you wonder how long the strong job market can last.
Thanks for the summary Fye!
Yes, it should be adjusted for inflation. It gets confusing because you find different #’s for that since there’ 2 ways to measure inflation (core and base rate)
The job market is strong, unemployment is low, the stock markets are still booming. Quiet before the storm?
Bummer that Idaho went down. 🙁 Hoping I can find a job that I can work remotely but pays California salary! 🙂
Yeah but think about how much lower your COL is now. Remote work at Cali pay would be sweet!
I reaped that type of benefit when we relocated to NC. I kept my NY job and worked remotely, and CoL was lower. My non profit salary wasn’t as competitive as many other NY jobs. But the 7 hour work day and 4+ weeks of vacation was unheard of in NC. Time is money right?
Wow. Interesting data. You guys in the DC area are rich!
Sorry, didn’t have time to reply right away. I was out at Ruth’s Chris and I felt like going for a drive in the Ferrari afterward….
you ever been to the eastern shore or maryland? i wonder what they would say over there if you told them the state median was 80 grand? “where’s my 80?” i’m guessing that’s more DC spillover making that number.
Well, In Queen Anne’s County on the Eastern Shore they would say “that’s it, we make more than that!”
But I hear ya, the rest of the Eastern Shore is much poorer but Talbot comes in at $61k (2016 data). The poorer ones are in the panhandle – Garret County is only $46K (2016).
Your point is correct though, Montgomery and Howard give these a boost as they’re both over $100K. The county data has not yet been fully released but obviously paints a more detailed picture.
It’s cool to see the income going up! I’d like to see a map showing statistics on savings rates though. Doesn’t matter how much you make if you don’t save.
Savings rate data is harder to find but I have some leads 🙂
Great information. Interesting that median income when head of household has a bachelors degree is near six figures.
Yep, there’s a lot of backlash against colleges lately but the data show that they make more, by a lot.