Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories

The amount of money people took home last year was the same as the year before

The median U.S. household income was $533 higher last year than in 2017, which economists say is statistically insignificant.

The amount of money people took home last year was the same as the year before
Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau on how much Americans are taking home has some economists, like Bruce Sacerdote at Dartmouth College, scratching their heads.

“It’s a puzzle,” he said. “The economy has been in expansion for a long time, there’s a lot of business optimism out there, there’s reasonable but not stellar GDP growth. So you should, of course, expect to see people taking more home.”

Some Americans are taking more money home, but those are generally people in the higher tax brackets. 

The median U.S. household income of $63,179 in 2018 was $533 higher than in 2017, which economists say is statistically insignificant.

Related Topics

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • Marketplace
    8 hours ago
    25:19
  • Make Me Smart
    14 hours ago
    19:00
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    17 hours ago
    6:55
  • Marketplace Tech
    21 hours ago
    8:33
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    3 days ago
    56:05
  • Million Bazillion
    24 days ago
    32:45