Household Income Rises in May 2015

Household income is on an upward trend. Median household income climbed to $55,192 in May 2015, according to Sentier Research. This was 0.7 percent higher than the April median, a statistically significant increase. The May 2015 median was 3.2 percent higher than the May 2014 median and 6.9 percent above the $51,639 median of August 2011—the low point in Sentier's household income series. 

"We are now at a point where we have recovered almost all of the losses in median income that followed the end of the recession in June 2009," says Sentier's Gordon Green. He notes, however, that the median is still lower than in December 2007, the beginning of the recession. Sentier's median household income estimates are derived from the Census Bureau's monthly Current Population Survey. 

Median household income in May 2015 was just 0.4 percent below the median of June 2009, the end of the Great Recession. It was 2.2 percent below the median of December 2007, the start of the Great Recession. It was 3.4 percent below the median of January 2000. The Household Income Index for May 2015 stood at 96.6 (January 2000 = 100.0).

Source: Sentier Research, Household Income Trends: May 2015