Race and Hispanic Origin
(Race data refer to people reporting a single race only; Hispanics can be of any race.)
- The real median income of non-Hispanic white ($65,041), black ($39,490), and Hispanic ($47,675) households increased 2.0 percent, 5.7 percent, and 4.3 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2016. This is the second annual increase in median household income for these households.
- Among the race groups, Asian households had the highest median income in 2016 ($81,431). The 2015 to 2016 percentage change in their real median income was not statistically significant.
- The differences between the 2015 to 2016 percentage changes in median income for non-Hispanic white, black, Hispanic, and Asian households were not statistically significant.
Regions
- Households in the South and West experienced an increase in real median income of 3.9 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2016. The changes in incomes of households in the Northeast and Midwest were not statistically significant.
- Households with the highest median household incomes were in the Northeast ($64,390) and the West ($64,275), followed by the Midwest ($58,305) and the South ($53,861). The difference between the median household incomes for the Northeast and West was not statistically significant.
- The difference between the 2015 to 2016 percentage changes in median income for households in all regions were not statistically significant.
Earnings
- The 2016 real median earnings of men ($51,640) and women ($41,554) who worked full- time, year-round were not statistically different from their respective 2015 medians.
- The female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.805, an increase of 1.1 percent from the 2015 ratio of 0.796. This is the first time the female-to-male earnings ratio has experienced an annual increase since 2007.
- Between 2015 and 2016, the total number of people with earnings increased by about 1.2 million. In addition, the total number of full-time, year-round workers increased by 2.2 million between 2015 and 2016, suggesting a shift from part-year, part-time work status to full-time, year-round work status. The difference between the 2015 to 2016 increases in the number of men and women full-time, year-round workers was not statistically significant.
- An estimated 74.8 percent of working men with earnings and 62.2 percent of working women with earnings worked full-time, year-round in 2016; both percentages were higher than the 2015 estimates of 73.9 percent and 61.3 percent, respectively.
Income Inequality
- The Gini index was 0.481 in 2016; the change from 2015 was not statistically significant. Developed more than a century ago, the Gini index is the most common measure of household income inequality used by economists, with 0.0 representing total income equality and 1.0 equivalent to total inequality.
- The share of aggregate household income in the fourth quintile decreased 1.3 percent between 2015 and 2016, while changes in the shares of other quintiles were not statistically significant.
Poverty
- The poverty rate for families in 2016 was 9.8 percent, representing 8.1 million families, a decline from 10.4 percent and 8.6 million families in 2015.
- For most demographic groups, the number of people in poverty decreased from 2015. Adults age 65 and older were the only major population group to see an increase in the number of people in poverty.
Thresholds
- As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2016 was $24,563. (See <www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html> for the complete set of dollar value thresholds that vary by family size and composition.)
Sex
- In 2016, 11.3 percent of males were in poverty, down from 12.2 percent in 2015. About 14.0 percent of females were in poverty in 2016, down from 14.8 percent in 2015.
- Gender differences in poverty rates were more pronounced for those ages 18 to 64. The poverty rate for women ages 18 to 64 was 13.4 percent, while the poverty rate for men ages 18 to 64 was 9.7 percent. The poverty rate for women age 65 and older was 10.6 percent, while the poverty rate for men age 65 and older was 7.6 percent.
Race and Hispanic Origin
(Race data refer to people reporting a single race only; Hispanics can be of any race.)
- The poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites was 8.8 percent in 2016 with 17.3 million individuals in poverty. Neither the poverty rate nor the number in poverty was statistically different from 2015. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 61.0 percent of the total population and 42.5 percent of the people in poverty.
- The poverty rate for blacks decreased to 22.0 percent in 2016, from 24.1 percent in 2015. The number of blacks in poverty decreased to 9.2 million, down from 10.0 million.
- The poverty rate for Hispanics decreased to 19.4 percent in 2016, down from 21.4 percent in 2015. The number of Hispanics in poverty decreased to 11.1 million, down from 12.1 million.
- Asians did not experience a statistically significant change in their poverty rates nor in the number of people in poverty between 2015 and 2016.
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