Household Income: 2019

This report presents data on median household income and the Gini index of income inequality based on the 2018 and 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS).1 The ACS provides detailed estimates of demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics for states, congressional districts, counties, places, and other localities every year. A description of the ACS is provided in the text box “What Is the American Community Survey?”2 The data collection period for the 2019 ACS spanned January to December 2019. Estimates presented here do not reflect the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact. Estimates from the 2019 ACS show a significant increase in median household income at the national level and for 39 states and the District of Columbia.3, 4 Median household income increased between 2018 and 2019 for 23 of the 25


INTRODUCTION
This report presents data on median household income and the Gini index of income inequality based on the 2018 and 2019 American Community Survey (ACS) and Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS). 1 The ACS provides detailed estimates of demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics for states, congressional districts, counties, places, and other localities every year. A description of the ACS is provided in the text box "What Is the American Community Survey?" 2 The data collection period for the 2019 ACS spanned January to December 2019. Estimates presented here do not reflect the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact. Estimates from the 2019 ACS show a significant increase in median household income at the national level and for 39 states and the District of Columbia. 3,4 Median household income increased between 2018 and 2019 for 23 of the 25 1 The U.S. Census Bureau reviewed this data product for unauthorized disclosure of confidential information and approved the disclosure avoidance practices applied to this release. CBDRB-FY20-POP001-0205.
² The text of this report discusses data for the United States, including the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, collected with the PRCS, are shown in Table 1 and Figures 1 and 3. 3 The medians from this report were calculated from the microdata and household and family distributions using 2019 dollars. Inflationadjusting previous year published estimates using the Consumer Price Index Research Series (CPI-U-RS) will not match exactly the estimates in this report. 4 Between 2018 and 2019, the ACS retirement income question changed. These changes resulted in an increase in both the number of households reporting retirement income and higher aggregate retirement income at the national level. For more information, see <www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation /user-notes/2020-01.html>. most populous metropolitan areas. 5 The Gini index was significantly lower in 2019 than 2018 for the United States and 15 states. 5 Metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (metro and micro areas) are geographic entities delineated by the Office of Management and Budget for use by federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing federal statistics. The term "Core Based Statistical Area" is a collective term for both metro and micro areas. A metro area contains a core urban area of 50,000 or more population, and a micro area contains an urban core of at least 10,000 (but less than 50,000) population. For more information, see <www.census.gov/programs-surveys/metro-micro/about.html/>.

Household income:
Includes pretax cash income of the householder and all other people 15 years and older in the household, whether or not they are related to the householder.

Median:
The point that divides the household income distribution into halves, one half with income above the median and the other half with income below the median. The median is based on the income distribution of all households, including those with no income.
Gini index: A statistical measure of income inequality. It measures the amount that any two incomes differ, on average, relative to average income. It is a natural indicator of how far apart or "spread out" incomes are from one another. A value of 0 represents perfect equality, and a value of 1 indicates total inequality.
The estimates contained in this report are primarily based on the 2018 and 2019 ACS. The ACS is conducted every month, with income data collected for the 12 months preceding the interview. Since the survey is continuous, adjacent ACS years have income reference months in common. Therefore, comparing the 2018 ACS with the 2019 ACS is not an exact comparison of the economic conditions in 2018 with those in 2019, and comparisons should be interpreted with care. 6       None of these 25 metropolitan areas experienced a statistically significant decrease. Changes for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area and Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA Metro Area were not statistically significant (see Figure 2).

MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: RACE AND HISPANIC ORIGIN OF HOUSEHOLDER 9
Real median household income between 2018 and 2019 increased for all households across all major race and Hispanic-origin groups. 10 ⁹ The householder is the person in whose name the home is owned or rented. This brief uses the characteristics of the householder to describe the household. 10 Federal surveys give respondents the option of reporting more than one race. Therefore, two basic ways of defining a race group are possible. A group, such as Asian, may be defined as those who reported Asian and no other race (the race-alone or singlerace concept) or as those who reported Asian regardless of whether they also reported another race (the race-alone-orin-combination concept). This report shows data using the race alone approach. Use of the single-race population does not imply that it is the preferred method of presenting or analyzing data. The Census Bureau uses a variety of approaches. In this report, the terms "White, not Hispanic" and "non-Hispanic White" are used interchangeably and refer to people who are not Hispanic and who reported White and no other race. Since Hispanics may be any race, data in this report for Hispanics overlap with data for race groups.  Figure 3). Four states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico had Gini indexes higher than the index for the United States. There were 37 states with Gini indexes lower than the U.S. index. Nine states had Gini indexes that were not statistically different from the U.S. index (Table  1 and Figure 3). Since 2006, the earliest year available in the ACS, the national Gini index increased 3.7 percent, from 0.464 to 0.481.

SOURCE AND ACCURACY
The data presented in this report are based on the ACS sample interviewed from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2018 (2018 ACS) and the ACS sample interviewed January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019 (2019 ACS). The estimates based on this sample describe the average values of person, household, and housing unit characteristics over this period

WHAT IS THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY?
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities with reliable and timely demographic, social, economic, and housing data for the nation, states, congressional districts, counties, places, and other localities every year. It has an annual sample size of about 3.5 million addresses across the United States and Puerto Rico and includes both housing units and group quarters (e.g., nursing facilities and prisons). The ACS is conducted in every county throughout the nation and every municipio in Puerto Rico (the Puerto Rico Community Survey). Beginning in 2006, ACS 1-year data have been released annually for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 and greater. For information on the ACS sample design and other topics, visit <www.census.gov/acs>. of collection. Sampling error is the uncertainty between an estimate based on a sample and the corresponding value that would be obtained if the estimate were based on the entire population (as from a census). Measures of sampling error are provided in the form of margins of error for all estimates included in this report. All comparative statements in this report have undergone statistical testing, and comparisons are significant at the 90 percent level unless otherwise noted. In addition to sampling error, nonsampling error may be introduced during any of the operations used to collect and process survey data such as editing, reviewing, or keying data from questionnaires. For more information on sampling and estimation methods, confidentiality protection, and sampling and nonsampling errors, please see the 2019 ACS Accuracy of the Data document located at <www.census .gov/programs-surveys/acs /technical-documentation/code -lists.html>.

NOTES
The Census Bureau also reports income estimates based on data from the Current Population Survey (CPS). The CPS is the longest-running survey conducted by the Census Bureau. The CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) asks detailed questions categorizing income into over 50 sources. The key purpose of the CPS ASEC is to provide timely and detailed estimates of income and to measure change in national-level estimates. The CPS ASEC is the official source of national poverty estimates. Please visit <www.census .gov/Census/library/publications /2019/demo/p60-270.pdf>.
For information on income estimates from the ACS and how they differ from those based on the CPS ASEC, see the "Fact Sheet: Differences Between the American Community Survey and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey" available at <www.census.gov /topics/income-poverty/poverty /guidance/data-sources/acs-vs -cps.html>.