WASHINGTON — Real median household income in the United States rose to the highest level in more than half a century in 2025, and the official poverty rate fell to one of the lowest readings the Census Bureau has published — though the agency itself stops short of calling overall poverty a clear statistical all-time low.
The Census Bureau’s annual income and poverty reports, released Sept. 15, put inflation-adjusted median household money income at $87,460 in 2025, up 2.6% from a revised $85,210 in 2024. Census says that is the highest since the household income series began in 1967, when the household income series begins.
The official poverty rate fell 0.5 percentage points to 10.2%, with 34.5 million people in poverty. That is the lowest point estimate in the official series since 1959. Census describes it as a “near all-time low” and “one of the lowest rates in that series.” A key footnote matters for headlines: the 10.2% rate is not statistically different from the 2019 rate of 10.5% at the agency’s usual confidence standard.
What set series lows — and what did not
Two subgroup figures did clear Census’s “historic low” language. The official poverty rate for children fell to 13.4%, and the rate for Hispanic individuals fell to 13.9% — both called historic lows in the agency’s release (children series to 1959; Hispanic series to 1973).
The Supplemental Poverty Measure, which counts taxes, credits, and many noncash benefits, was 13.1% in 2025 — not statistically different from 2024, and not a historical low. SPM plunged during the pandemic-aid years; Census reported a 7.8% SPM rate for 2021 when stimulus checks and expanded credits were still reshaping household resources. Anyone saying “the lowest official poverty in the series” has to mean the official measure, not the supplemental one.
Earnings inside households are a mixed picture. Among full-time, year-round workers, median earnings rose 3.2% for women between 2024 and 2025 but did not change significantly for men. The female-to-male earnings ratio rose to 83.9%. That is not the same thing as median household income — and it is not the same as a BLS “real wages” series that politicians sometimes quote separately.
How the claim circulated
Conservative outlets framed the release as a pair of highs and lows. Breitbart’s Sept. 16 headline said poverty hit its lowest mark as incomes set a new high, matching the White House’s language of a new high in real income and a new low in poverty. The income half tracks Census. The overall poverty half is stronger than Census’s own wording, and Breitbart also called the poverty decline the “second” consecutive annual drop — Census says it was the third.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has separately argued that real wages are outpacing inflation for lower earners. That is a BLS wages argument, not the Census household-income table. Catawba First News keeps those lines distinct.
What it looks like from Catawba
The national CPS ASEC figures are a calendar-year snapshot for the country. They are not a 2025 median for Catawba County. The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey QuickFacts put Catawba’s median household income at about $67,864 (2020–2024, in 2024 dollars) and the county poverty rate at about 13.0% — both trailing North Carolina’s statewide ACS medians and poverty rate on the same QuickFacts table.
Local factories and wage debates sit next to that gap. Catawba First News has covered AI-native robotics and manufacturing automation, Mecklenburg’s $25.53 minimum wage, and North Carolina cracking the top 10 in innovation capacity. A national income high does not automatically close a county-level ACS gap — but it does set the scoreboard Washington is arguing over.
Bottom line
For 2025, Census’s cleanest claim is this: median household income is the highest since 1967, and official poverty is near a series low, with child and Hispanic rates at series lows. The overall poverty rate’s 10.2% reading is the lowest published point estimate, but it is not statistically different from 2019. The supplemental poverty measure is not at a historic low. Call it what the tables say — not what a campaign press release wishes they said.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau press release CB26-151 and reports Income in the United States: 2025 (P60-289) and Poverty in the United States: 2025 (P60-290), Sept. 15, 2026; Census QuickFacts for Catawba County, N.C.; Breitbart (Sept. 16, 2026) for how the claim circulated.
