Glossary · Economy
Median household income
Median household income is the income of the household exactly in the middle: half of all households earn more, half earn less.
Also called: household income, median income, typical household income, US median income
In 2025, before taxes. The mean (average): $126,700.
From $56,230 to $87,460, in 2025 dollars.
In plain words
Line up every household in the country from the lowest income to the highest. The one standing exactly in the middle has the median household income: half of households earn more and half earn less.
The median is used instead of the average because a few huge incomes pull the average up. In the US in 2025, the median household had $87,460 of income before taxes, while the average (mean) was $126,700.
A household is everyone living in one home: a single person, a couple, a family, roommates. The numbers come from a large yearly Census Bureau survey, published each September for the year before.
Example
Median versus mean on one street
- Five households earn $30,000, $50,000, $70,000, $90,000 and $110,000.
- Median: the middle one, $70,000. Mean: $350,000 ÷ 5 = $70,000. The same.
- A tech founder earning $2,000,000 moves in. Six households now: median (70 + 90) ÷ 2 = $80,000; mean $2,350,000 ÷ 6 = $391,667.
One rich newcomer barely moves the median but multiplies the mean: that is why the median is the better guide to a typical household.
One level deeper
Census income is money income before taxes: wages, Social Security, pensions, interest, dividends and cash benefits. It leaves out capital gains, tax credits and non-cash help such as food stamps or employer health insurance, so it is not the same as what people can spend.
In 2025 dollars, the US median rose from $56,230 in 1967 to $87,460 in 2025: +56% in all. It was not a smooth climb: it fell in recessions and took years to recover after 2008. Over the last year the real median changed by +2.6%.
Households have shrunk over the decades as more people live alone, so income per person has grown faster than income per household.
US median household income since 1967
One line is in 2025 dollars, the other in dollars of each year. Most of the nominal rise is inflation; the real gain is the slope of the inflation-adjusted line.
The numbers behind the chart
| Date | In 2025 dollars | In dollars of each year |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | $56.2K | $7,143 |
| 1970 | $60.5K | $8,734 |
| 1980 | $61.7K | $17.7K |
| 1990 | $67K | $29.9K |
| 2000 | $73.6K | $42K |
| 2010 | $70.1K | $49.3K |
| 2020 | $83.6K | $68K |
| 2021 | $83.3K | $70.8K |
| 2022 | $81.5K | $74.6K |
| 2023 | $84.7K | $80.6K |
| 2024 | $85.2K | $83.2K |
| 2025 | $87.5K | $87.5K |
Why it matters
It is the best simple measure of how a typical household is doing, better than GDP per person, which a few big incomes can lift.
It is used to judge affordability: home prices, rents and college costs are often compared with median income.
It shows whether growth reaches the middle: if GDP rises but the median does not, the gains went elsewhere.
A common mistake
Myth: The average household earns the median income.
In fact: The average (mean) is pulled up by the highest incomes: in 2025 the US mean was $126,700 against a median of $87,460. Most households earn less than the mean.
Questions people ask
What is the median household income in the US?
$87,460 in 2025, before taxes, according to the Census Bureau. Our median household income article breaks it down by state and by age.
What is the difference between household and family income?
A family is people related by birth, marriage or adoption living together; a household is anyone sharing a home, including people living alone. Median family income is higher, because single-person households are left out.
Is median household income before or after taxes?
Before taxes. The Census Bureau also publishes experimental after-tax measures, which are lower for most households.
Read more on BigCapital
About the numbers
- The numbers on this page are recalculated from the data every night; the sources are listed at the end of the page.
- US median and mean household income: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements (CPS ASEC), Historical Income Tables: Households, Table H-5 (All Races).
- Census income figures for 2013 and 2017 have breaks from survey changes. Real values are the Census Bureau’s own, in the latest year’s dollars.
- This page explains a term. It is not investment advice.