Income, Poverty and Health Insurance
Coverage in the United States: 2019
SEPT. 15, 2020 — The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that median household income in 2019 increased 6.8% from 2018, and the official poverty rate decreased 1.3 percentage points. Meanwhile the percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of 2019 was 92.0% and 8.0% of people, or 26.1 million, did not have health insurance at any point during 2019, according to the 2020 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC).
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Median household income was $68,703 in 2019, an increase of 6.8% from the 2018 median. Between 2018 and 2019, the real median earnings of all workers increased by 1.4%, while the real median earnings of full-time, year-round workers increased 0.8%. The 2019 real median earnings of men and women who worked full-time, year-round increased by 2.1% and 3.0%, respectively, between 2018 and 2019. The difference between the 2018-2019 percent changes in median earnings for men and women working full-time, year-round was not statistically significant. The number of full-time, year-round workers increased by approximately 1.2 million between 2018 and 2019. Between 2018 and 2019, the total number of people with earnings increased by about 2.2 million.
The official poverty rate in 2019 was 10.5%, a decrease of 1.3 percentage points from 11.8% in 2018. This is the fifth consecutive annual decline in the national poverty rate. Since 2014, the poverty rate has fallen 4.3 percentage points, from 14.8% to 10.5%. The 2019 poverty rate of 10.5% is the lowest rate observed since estimates were initially published for 1959. The number of people in poverty in 2019 was 34.0 million, 4.2 million fewer people than 2018.
Private health insurance coverage was more prevalent than public coverage, covering 68.0% and 34.1% of the population at some point during the year, respectively. Employment-based insurance was the most common subtype. Some people may have more than one coverage type during the calendar year.
These findings are contained in two reports: Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019 and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2019.
Another Census Bureau report, The Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2019, was also released today. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2019 was 11.7%. This was 1.0 percentage point lower than the 2018 SPM rate of 12.8%. The SPM provides an alternative way of measuring poverty in the United States and serves as an additional indicator of economic well-being. The Census Bureau has published poverty estimates using the SPM annually since 2011 with the collaboration of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The Current Population Survey (CPS), sponsored jointly by the Census Bureau and BLS, is conducted every month and is the primary source of labor force statistics for the U.S. population; it is used to calculate monthly unemployment rate estimates. Supplements are added in most months; the CPS ASEC is designed to give annual, national estimates of income, poverty and health insurance numbers and rates. The CPS ASEC is conducted in February, March and April. It collects information about income and health insurance coverage during the prior calendar year. As data were collected in February, March and April 2020 about income and health insurance coverage in 2019, this report does not reflect economic impacts related to COVID-19, but instead serves as a pre-pandemic benchmark for future research.
This year, data collection faced extraordinary circumstances. As the United States began to grapple with the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the nation, interviewing for the March CPS began on March 15. In order to protect the health and safety of Census Bureau staff and respondents, the survey suspended in-person interviewing and closed both Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) contact centers on March 20. For the rest of March and through April, the Census Bureau continued to attempt all interviews by phone. For those whose first month in the survey was March or April, the Census Bureau used vendor-provided telephone numbers associated with the sample address.
While the Census Bureau went to great lengths to complete interviews by telephone, the response rate for the CPS basic household survey was 73% in March 2020, about 10 percentage points lower than in preceding months and the same period in 2019, which were regularly above 80%. The change from conducting first interviews in person to making first contacts by telephone contributed to the lower response rates and it is likely that the characteristics of people for whom a telephone number was found may be systematically different from the people for whom the Census Bureau was unable to obtain a telephone number. While the Census Bureau creates weights designed to adjust for nonresponse and to control weighted counts to independent population estimates by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, the magnitude of the increase in (and differential nature of) nonresponse related to the pandemic likely reduced their efficacy. Using administrative data, Census Bureau researchers have documented that the nonrespondents in 2020 are less similar to respondents than in earlier years. Of particular interest for the estimates in this report released today are the differences in median income and educational attainment, indicating that respondents in 2020 had relatively higher income and were more educated than nonrespondents.
The 2019 income and poverty report is based on the CPS ASEC and includes comparisons with the previous year and historical tables in the report, which contain statistics back to 1959. The health insurance report is based on both the CPS ASEC and the American Community Survey (ACS). State and local income, poverty and health insurance estimates from the ACS will be released Thursday, Sept. 17.
Income
- Median household income was $68,703 in 2019, an increase of 6.8% from the 2018 median of $64,324.
- The 2019 real median income of family households and nonfamily households increased 7.3% and 6.2%, respectively, between 2018 and 2019. This is the fifth consecutive annual increase in median household income for family households and the second consecutive increase for nonfamily households. The difference between the 2018-2019 percent changes in median income for family (7.3%) and nonfamily (6.2%) households was not statistically significant.
- Real median household incomes increased for all regions in 2019: 6.8% in the Northeast, 4.8% in the Midwest, 6.1% in the South, and 7.0% in the West. The differences between the 2018-2019 percent changes in median household income for all regions were not statistically significant.
Race and Hispanic Origin
(Race data refer to people reporting a single race only; Hispanics can be of any race.)
- The 2019 real median incomes of White, Black, Asian and Hispanic households all increased from 2018. The differences between the 2018-2019 percent changes in household median income for each race group were not statistically significant.
Earnings
- The 2019 real median earnings of men ($57,456) and women ($47,299) who worked full-time, year-round increased by 2.1% and 3.0%, respectively. The difference between the 2018-2019 percent change in median earnings for men working full-time, year-round and women working full-time, year-round was not statistically significant.
- The 2019 female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.823, not statistically different from the 2018 ratio.
- Between 2018 and 2019, the real median earnings of all workers and full-time, year-round workers increased 1.4% and 0.8%, respectively.
- Between 2018 and 2019, the total number of people with earnings, regardless of work experience, increased by about 2.2 million. The number of full-time, year-round workers increased by approximately 1.2 million.
Poverty
As defined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2019 was $26,172. (See <www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html> for the complete set of dollar value thresholds that vary by family size and composition.)
- The official poverty rate in 2019 was 10.5%; down 1.3 percentage points from 11.8% in 2018 (the OMB determined the official definition of poverty in Statistical Policy Directive 14).
- The 2019 poverty rate of 10.5% marks the fifth consecutive annual decline in poverty. Since 2014, the poverty rate has fallen 4.3 percentage points, from 14.8% to 10.5%.
- The 2019 poverty rate of 10.5% is the lowest rate observed since estimates were initially published for 1959.
- In 2019, there were 34.0 million people in poverty, approximately 4.2 million fewer people than 2018.
Race and Hispanic Origin
(Race data refer to people reporting a single race only; Hispanics can be of any race.)
- Between 2018 and 2019, poverty rates declined for all major race and Hispanic origin groups.
- The poverty rate for Whites decreased 1.0 percentage point to 9.1%. The poverty rate for Blacks decreased by 2.0 percentage points to 18.8%. The poverty rate for Asians decreased 2.8 percentage points to 7.3%. The poverty rate for Hispanics decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 15.7%.
- The percentage point change in poverty rates from 2018 to 2019 for Blacks is not significantly different than the percentage point change for Whites, Asians or Hispanics. The percentage point change from 2018 to 2019 for Hispanics is not significantly different from the percentage point change for Asians.
Age
- Between 2018 and 2019, poverty rates for children under the age of 18 decreased 1.8 percentage points, from 16.2% to 4%.
- Poverty rates decreased 1.2 percentage points for adults ages 18 to 64, from 10.7% to 9.4%.
- The poverty rate for people age 65 and older decreased by 0.9 percentage points, from 7% to 8.9%.
Supplemental Poverty Measure
The SPM extends the official poverty measure by taking into account many of the government programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals that are not included in the current official poverty measure.
- The SPM released today shows: in 2019, the overall SPM rate was 11.7%. This was 1.0 percentage point lower than the 2018 SPM rate of 12.8%.
- The SPM rate for 2019 was 1.3 percentage points higher than the official poverty rate of 10.5%.
- There were 16 states plus the District of Columbia for which SPM rates were higher than official poverty rates, 25 states with lower rates, and 9 states for which the differences were not statistically significant.
- Social Security continued to be the most important anti-poverty program, moving 26.5 million individuals out of poverty in 2019. Refundable tax credits moved 7.5 million people out of poverty.
Age
- SPM rates were down for all major age categories: children under age 18, adults ages 18 to 64, and adults age 65 and older between 2018 and 2019.
While the official poverty measure includes only pretax money income, the SPM adds the value of in-kind benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, school lunches, housing assistance and refundable tax credits.
Additionally, the SPM deducts necessary expenses for critical goods and services from income. Expenses that are deducted include taxes, child care, commuting expenses, contributions toward the cost of medical care and health insurance premiums, and child support paid to another household. The SPM permits the examination of the effects of government transfers on poverty estimates. For example, not including refundable tax credits (the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable portion of the child tax credit) in resources, the poverty rate for all people would have been 14.0% rather than 11.7%. The SPM does not replace the official poverty measure and is not used to determine eligibility for government programs.
Health Insurance
As in the past several years, the Census Bureau is releasing estimates of health insurance from two surveys. The Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) asks people about coverage during the entire previous calendar year. The American Community Survey (ACS) asks people to report their health insurance coverage at the time of interview. The use of both surveys provides a more complete picture of health insurance coverage in the United States in 2019. Highlights reporting coverage in 2019 come from the CPS ASEC. Highlights reporting change in health coverage from 2018 to 2019 or health coverage at the state-level come from the ACS.
- In 2019, 8.0% of people, or 26.1 million, did not have health insurance at any point during the year, according to the CPS ASEC.
The percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of 2019 was 92.0%.
- In 2019, 9.2% of people, or 29.6 million, were not covered by health insurance at the time of interview, according to the ACS, up from 8.9% and 28.6 million in 2018.
- In 2019, the percentage of people with employer-provided coverage at the time of interview was slightly higher than in 2018, from 55.2% in 2018 to 55.4% in 2019.
- The percentage of people with Medicaid coverage at the time of interview decreased to 19.8% in 2019, down from 20.5% in 2018.
- Between 2018 and 2019, the percentage of people without health insurance coverage decreased in one state and increased in nineteen states.
- All states and the District of Columbia had a lower uninsured rate in 2019 than in 2010.
Regional trends are available for income, poverty, SPM and health insurance in each respective report, as well as tables showing state-level coverage for health insurance and poverty rates using the supplemental poverty measure.
State and Local Estimates From the American Community Survey
Some state-level health insurance data from the ACS are included in this release. On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Census Bureau will release 2019 single-year estimates of median household income, poverty and health insurance for all states, counties, places and other geographic units with populations of 65,000 or more from the ACS. These statistics will include numerous social, economic and housing characteristics, such as language, education, commuting, employment, mortgage status and rent. Subscribers will be able to access these estimates on an embargoed basis.
The ACS provides a wide range of important statistics about people and housing for every community (i.e., census tracts or neighborhoods) across the nation. The results are used by everyone from town and city planners to retailers and homebuilders. The survey is the only source of local estimates for most of the 40 topics it covers.
The CPS ASEC and ACS are subject to sampling and nonsampling errors. All comparisons made here and in each respective report have been tested and found to be statistically significant at the 90% confidence level, unless otherwise noted.
For additional information on the source of the data and accuracy of the income, poverty and health insurance estimates, visit <https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2019/demo/iphi-sa.pdf>.
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Press Kit Income and Poverty Report
Health Insurance Report Supplemental Poverty Measure Report
Income and Poverty Data Health Insurance Coverage Data
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