This fact sheet provides key numbers from today’s new Census reports, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2017 and The Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2017. Each section has headline statistics from the reports for 2017, as well as comparisons to the previous year, to 2007 (the final year of the economic expansion that preceded the Great Recession), and to 2000 (the historical high point for many of the statistics in these reports.) All dollar values are adjusted for inflation (2017 dollars).

Earnings

Median annual earnings for men working full time fell 1.1 percent, to $52,146, in 2017. Men’s earnings are down 2.5 percent since 2007, and are still 1.9 percent lower than they were in 2000.

Median annual earnings for women working full time fell 1.1 percent, to $41,977, in 2017. Women’s earnings are up 0.9 percent since 2007, and are 7.1 percent higher than they were in 2000.

Incomes

Median household income rose 1.8 percent, to $61,372, in 2017. Median household income is down 0.1 percent since 2007, and is 0.8 percent lower than it was in 2000.

Median non-elderly household income rose 2.5 percent, to $69,928, in 2017. Median non-elderly household income is up 0.8 percent since 2007, and is still 2.7 percent lower than it was in 2000.

Median household income for white, non-Hispanic households rose 2.6 percent, to $68,145, in 2017. Median household income is up 1.5 percent since 2007, and is 1.4 percent higher than it was in 2000.

Median household income for African American households fell 0.2 percent, to $40,258, in 2017. Median household income is down 2.9 percent since 2007, and is still 7.9 percent lower than it was in 2000.

Median household income for Hispanic households rose 3.7 percent, to $50,486, in 2017. Median household income is up 6.7 percent since 2007, and is 3.4 percent higher than it was in 2000.

Poverty

The poverty rate fell 0.4 percentage points, to 12.3 percent, in 2017. The poverty rate is 0.2 percentage points lower than in 2007. The poverty rate is 1.0 percentage points higher than it was in 2000.

The child poverty rate fell 0.5 percentage points, to 17.5 percent, in 2017. The child poverty rate was also 0.5 percentage points lower in 2017 than it was in 2007, although it is still 1.3 percentage points higher than it was in 2000.

The white, non-Hispanic poverty rate fell 0.1 percentage points, to 8.7 percent, in 2017. The white, non-Hispanic poverty rate is 0.5 percentage points higher than in 2007, and is 1.3 percentage points higher than it was in 2000.

The African American poverty rate fell 0.8 percentage points, to 21.2 percent, in 2017. The African American poverty rate is 3.3 percentage points lower than in 2007, and is now 1.3 percentage points lower than it was in 2000.

The Hispanic poverty rate fell 1.1 percentage points, to 18.3 percent, in 2017. The Hispanic poverty rate is 3.2 percentage points lower than in 2007, and is 3.2 percentage points lower than it was in 2000.

Policy matters

The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) is an alternative poverty measure published by the Census Bureau since 2010 that is more sophisticated than the official poverty measure referenced earlier in this fact sheet. The SPM takes into account an array of typical expenses—such as housing, food, clothing, health care, and more—as well as people’s income from both market sources and government programs. Using the Supplemental Poverty Measure, we can evaluate how government assistance lifts people out of poverty.

SPM poverty rate in 2017: 13.9%

Impact of government assistance on poverty as measured by the SPM:

• Social Security kept 27.0 million people out of poverty in 2017.
• Refundable tax credits (such as the Earned Income Tax Credit) kept 8.3 million people out of poverty in 2017.
• The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) kept 3.4 million people out of poverty in 2017.
• Unemployment insurance kept 542,000 people out of poverty in 2017.

SNAP stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.