Households
Real median household income by president
Median household income adjusted for inflation to the most recent year's dollars (Census CPS ASEC). Published once a year, about nine months after the year ends.
$87,460 latest, 2025
Source: Census Bureau, via FRED MEHOINUSA672N. Annual data, fetched Oct 19, 2026.
Since 1984, the real median household income ranged from $61,910 in 1984 under Ronald Reagan to $87,460 in 2025 under Donald Trump (2nd term). Of the 6 completed terms with data, the real median household income rose fastest under Donald Trump (1st term), at +$1,590/yr against +$2,040/yr in the four years before, and fell fastest under George H. W. Bush, at −$545/yr against +$1,208/yr in the four years before. So far under Donald Trump (2nd term), it has gone from $85,210 in 2024 to $87,460 in 2025.
By presidential term
Real median household income, term by term: every term lined up from inauguration on one chart.
Value at the last full period before inauguration and at the end of the term, with the yearly rate of change. The second column is the rate of change over the four years before the term: the trend they inherited. Remember the lag: a term's first year mostly reflects the previous one's policies.
| President | During term | 4 years before |
|---|---|---|
| Donald Trump (2nd term) 2025–now | $85,210 → $87,460 +$2,245/yr · through 2025 | +$405/yr |
| Joe Biden 2021–2025 | $83,590 → $85,210 +$405/yr | +$1,590/yr |
| Donald Trump (1st term) 2017–2021 | $77,230 → $83,590 +$1,590/yr | +$2,040/yr |
| Barack Obama 2009–2017 | $72,260 → $77,230 +$621/yr | +$140/yr |
| George W. Bush 2001–2009 | $73,560 → $72,260 −$163/yr | +$1,395/yr |
| Bill Clinton 1993–2001 | $64,560 → $73,560 +$1,125/yr | −$545/yr |
| George H. W. Bush 1989–1993 | $66,740 → $64,560 −$545/yr | +$1,208/yr |
| Ronald Reagan 1981–1989 | no data | no data |
| Jimmy Carter 1977–1981 | no data | no data |
More households indicators
Events that bear on this indicator
- Sep 15, 2008 ShockLehman Brothers collapses. The financial crisis peaks; the Great Recession deepens.