Household Income Stable in April

Median household income was about the same in April 2012 as in the previous month, according to the latest monthly update from Sentier Research. The April median of $50,486 was 0.5 percent lower than the March 2012 median ($50,765), after adjusting for inflation. The change  was not statistically significant.  

The April median was 5.9 percent lower than median household income in June 2009--the end of the Great Recession. It was 8.3 percent lower than the median in December 2007, the start of the Great Recession. It was 9.2 percent lower than the median in January 2000. 

"These comparisons demonstrate how significantly real median annual household income has fallen over the past decade, and how much ground needs to be recovered to return to income levels that existed in earlier years," notes Sentier.

The Household Income Index for April 2012 was 90.8 (January 2000 = 100.0).

Source: Sentier Research, Household Income Trends: April 2012