In March 2025, inflation amounted to 2.4 percent, while wages grew by 4.3 percent. The inflation rate has not exceeded the rate of wage growth since January 2023. Inflation in 2022 The high rates of inflation in 2022 meant that the real terms value of American wages took a hit. Many Americans report feelings of concern over the economy and a worsening of their financial situation. The inflation situation in the United States is one that was experienced globally in 2022, mainly due to COVID-19 related supply chain constraints and disruption due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The monthly inflation rate for the U.S. reached a 40-year high in June 2022 at 9.1 percent, and annual inflation for 2022 reached eight percent. Without appropriate wage increases, Americans will continue to see a decline in their purchasing power. Wages in the U.S. Despite the level of wage growth reaching 6.7 percent in the summer of 2022, it has not been enough to curb the impact of even higher inflation rates. The federally mandated minimum wage in the United States has not increased since 2009, meaning that individuals working minimum wage jobs have taken a real terms pay cut for the last twelve years. There are discrepancies between states - the minimum wage in California can be as high as 15.50 U.S. dollars per hour, while a business in Oklahoma may be as low as two U.S. dollars per hour. However, even the higher wage rates in states like California and Washington may be lacking - one analysis found that if minimum wage had kept up with productivity, the minimum hourly wage in the U.S. should have been 22.88 dollars per hour in 2021. Additionally, the impact of decreased purchasing power due to inflation will impact different parts of society in different ways with stark contrast in average wages due to both gender and race.

In 2023, the usual median hourly rate of a worker's wage in the United States was 19.24 U.S. dollars, a decrease from the previous year. Dollar value is based on 2023 U.S. dollars. In 1979, the median hourly earnings in the U.S. was 17.48 dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Real Median Personal Income in the United States (MEPAINUSA672N) from 1974 to 2024 about personal income, personal, median, income, real, and USA.

When adjusted for inflation, the 2024 federal minimum wage in the United States is over 40 percent lower than the minimum wage in 1970. Although the real dollar minimum wage in 1970 was only 1.60 U.S. dollars, when expressed in nominal 2024 dollars this increases to 13.05 U.S. dollars. This is a significant difference from the federal minimum wage in 2024 of 7.25 U.S. dollars.

Graph and download economic data for Employed full time: Median usual weekly real earnings: Wage and salary workers: 16 years and over (LES1252881600Q) from Q1 1979 to Q2 2025 about full-time, salaries, workers, earnings, 16 years +, wages, median, employment, real, and USA.

In 2023, the median hourly earnings of wage and salary workers in the United States was 19.24 U.S. dollars. This is an increase from 1979, when median hourly earnings were at 4.44 U.S. dollars. Hourly Workers The United States national minimum wage is 7.25 U.S. dollars per hour, which has been the minimum wage since 2009. However, each state has the agency to set their state minimum wage. Furthermore, some cities are able to create their minimum wage. Many argue that the minimum wage is too low and should be raised, because it is not considered a living wage. There has been a movement to raise the minimum wage to 15 U.S. dollars per hour, called “Fight for 15” which began in the early 2010s. While there has been no movement at the federal level, some states have moved to increase their minimum wages, with at least three states and the District of Columbia setting minimum wage rates at or above 15 dollars per hour. More recently, some proponents of increasing the minimum wage say that 15 dollars is too low, and lawmakers should strive toward a higher goal, especially given that a 2021 analysis found that the minimum wage in the U.S. should be 22.88 U.S. dollars if it grew at the same rate as economic productivity. Salary Workers On the other hand, salary workers in the United States do not get paid on an hourly basis. The median weekly earnings of salary workers have significantly increased since 1979. Asian salary workers had the highest hourly earnings in the U.S. in 2021. Among female salary workers, those ages 45 to 54 years old had the highest median hourly earnings in 2021, likewise for male salary workers.

Graph and download economic data for Real Median Family Income in the United States (MEFAINUSA672N) from 1953 to 2024 about family, median, income, real, and USA.

This statistic shows the percent of workers paid hourly rates at or below prevailing federal minimum wage in the United States from 1980 to 2023, by gender. In 2023, only 1.5 percent of the female wage and salary workers were paid hourly rates at or below the federal minimum wage, compared to 21.6 percent in 1980.

Graph and download economic data for Real Disposable Personal Income (DSPIC96) from Jan 1959 to Jul 2025 about disposable, personal income, personal, income, real, and USA.

Consumer Debt Payments as Percent of Income - Historical chart and current data through 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Household Debt Service Payments as a Percent of Disposable Personal Income (TDSP) from Q1 1980 to Q2 2025 about disposable, payments, personal income, debt, percent, households, personal, income, services, and USA.

Key information about Italy Monthly Earnings

• Italy Monthly Earnings stood at 3,819 USD in Dec 2024, compared with the previous figure of 3,916 USD in Sep 2024
• Italy Monthly Earnings data is updated quarterly, available from Mar 1980 to Dec 2024, with an average number of 2,863 USD
• The data reached the an all-time high of 4,412 USD in Jun 2008 and a record low of 992 USD in Mar 1985

CEIC calculates Monthly Earnings from quarterly Compensation of Employees and quarterly Number of Employees, and converts it into USD. Italian National Institute of Statistics provides Compensation of Employees in EUR based on ESA 2010 and Number of Employees. Federal Reserve Board average market exchange rate is used for currency conversions. Monthly Earnings include Social contributions. Monthly Earnings prior to Q1 1995 are based on ESA 1995.


Further information about Italy Monthly Earnings

• In the latest reports, Italy Population reached 59 million people in Dec 2023
• Unemployment Rate of Italy increased to 6 % in Jan 2025
• The country's Labour Force Participation Rate increased to 67 % in Jan 2025

This data collection supplies standard monthly labor force data for the week prior to the survey. Comprehensive data is given on the employment status, occupation, and industry of persons 14 years old and older. Additional data are available concerning weeks worked and hours per week worked, reason not working full-time, total income and income components, and residence. Besides the CPS core questions, this survey gathered additional data on the time of day that wage and salary workers started and ended work, hours worked per week, hourly or weekly earnings, premium pay, union membership status, and whether the respondent worked according to a shift or flextime schedule. This survey also contains supplemental statistics on dual job-holders. Data provided include the reason for holding a second job and the number of hours worked per week at this job for the week prior to the survey. Information on demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, race, marital status, veteran status, household relationship, educational level, and Hispanic origin, is available for each person in the household enumerated. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR at https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08137.v1. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they may make this dataset available in multiple data formats in the future.

Wages in China increased to 120698 CNY/Year in 2023 from 114029 CNY/Year in 2022. This dataset provides - China Average Yearly Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Wages in Sweden increased to 208.30 SEK/Hour in June from 207.60 SEK/Hour in May of 2025. This dataset provides - Sweden Average Hourly Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR
Income (EC4)

FULL MEASURE NAME
Household income by place of residence

LAST UPDATED
January 2023

DESCRIPTION
Income reflects the median earnings of individuals and households from employment, as well as the income distribution by quintile. Income data highlight how employees are being compensated for their work on an inflation-adjusted basis.

DATA SOURCE
U.S. Census Bureau: Decennial Census - https://nhgis.org
Count 4Pb (1970)
Form STF3 (1980-1990)
Form SF3a (2000)

U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey - https://data.census.gov/
Form B19001 (2005-2021; household income by place of residence)
Form B19013 (2005-2021; median household income by place of residence)
Form B08521 (2005-2021; median worker earnings by place of employment)

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index - https://www.bls.gov/data/
1970-2021

CONTACT INFORMATION
vitalsigns.info@bayareametro.gov

METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator)
Income derived from the decennial Census data reflects the income earned in the prior calendar year, whereas income derived from the American Community Survey (ACS) data reflects the prior 12 month period; note that this inconsistency has a minor effect on historical comparisons (see Income and Earnings Data section of the ACS General Handbook - https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/acs/acs_general_handbook_2020_ch09.pdf). ACS 1-year data is used for larger geographies – Bay counties and most metropolitan area counties – while smaller geographies rely upon 5-year rolling average data due to their smaller sample sizes. Note that 2020 data uses the 5-year estimates because the ACS did not collect 1-year data for 2020.

Quintile income for 1970-2000 is imputed from decennial Census data using methodology from the California Department of Finance. Bay Area income is the population weighted average of county-level income.

Income has been inflated using the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2021 specific to each metro area; however, some metro areas lack metro-specific CPI data back to 1970 and therefore adjusted data uses national CPI for 1970. Note that current MSA boundaries were used for historical comparison by identifying counties included in today’s metro areas.

Graph and download economic data for Real Median Household Income in New York (MEHOINUSNYA672N) from 1984 to 2024 about NY, households, median, income, real, and USA.

This dataset contains replication files for "The Fading American Dream: Trends in Absolute Income Mobility Since 1940" by Raj Chetty, David Grusky, Maximilian Hell, Nathaniel Hendren, Robert Manduca, and Jimmy Narang. For more information, see https://opportunityinsights.org/paper/the-fading-american-dream/. A summary of the related publication follows. One of the defining features of the “American Dream” is the ideal that children have a higher standard of living than their parents. We assess whether the U.S. is living up to this ideal by estimating rates of “absolute income mobility” – the fraction of children who earn more than their parents – since 1940. We measure absolute mobility by comparing children’s household incomes at age 30 (adjusted for inflation using the Consumer Price Index) with their parents’ household incomes at age 30. We find that rates of absolute mobility have fallen from approximately 90% for children born in 1940 to 50% for children born in the 1980s. Absolute income mobility has fallen across the entire income distribution, with the largest declines for families in the middle class. These findings are unaffected by using alternative price indices to adjust for inflation, accounting for taxes and transfers, measuring income at later ages, and adjusting for changes in household size. Absolute mobility fell in all 50 states, although the rate of decline varied, with the largest declines concentrated in states in the industrial Midwest, such as Michigan and Illinois. The decline in absolute mobility is especially steep – from 95% for children born in 1940 to 41% for children born in 1984 – when we compare the sons’ earnings to their fathers’ earnings. Why have rates of upward income mobility fallen so sharply over the past half-century? There have been two important trends that have affected the incomes of children born in the 1980s relative to those born in the 1940s and 1950s: lower Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates and greater inequality in the distribution of growth. We find that most of the decline in absolute mobility is driven by the more unequal distribution of economic growth rather than the slowdown in aggregate growth rates. When we simulate an economy that restores GDP growth to the levels experienced in the 1940s and 1950s but distributes that growth across income groups as it is distributed today, absolute mobility only increases to 62%. In contrast, maintaining GDP at its current level but distributing it more broadly across income groups – at it was distributed for children born in the 1940s – would increase absolute mobility to 80%, thereby reversing more than two-thirds of the decline in absolute mobility. These findings show that higher growth rates alone are insufficient to restore absolute mobility to the levels experienced in mid-century America. Under the current distribution of GDP, we would need real GDP growth rates above 6% per year to return to rates of absolute mobility in the 1940s. Intuitively, because a large fraction of GDP goes to a small fraction of high-income households today, higher GDP growth does not substantially increase the number of children who earn more than their parents. Of course, this does not mean that GDP growth does not matter: changing the distribution of growth naturally has smaller effects on absolute mobility when there is very little growth to be distributed. The key point is that increasing absolute mobility substantially would require more broad-based economic growth. We conclude that absolute mobility has declined sharply in America over the past half-century primarily because of the growth in inequality. If one wants to revive the “American Dream” of high rates of absolute mobility, one must have an interest in growth that is shared more broadly across the income distribution.

Judgement on occupational situation. Topics: education data; hours each week; overtime; type of overtime pay; reason for overtime; occupational further education; participation in further education events; detailed information on professional career; reasons for change of occupation; characterization of burdens from current and earlier employment; job satisfaction in current as well as in previous occupation (scale); impact of unemployment and assessment of current job security; personal chances in job market; satisfaction with income; major reasons for acceptance of current occupation; assessment of prospects of promotion; recognition experienced at work; possible damages from sloppy work; interest in self-employment; major reason for termination of employment before reaching retirement age or reasons for continuing to work after reaching the age limit; work orientation; fair income; receipt of income dependent on preformance; reasons for increases in wage or salary received; payments in excess of the usual monthly salary; detailed determination of sources of income of all persons in the household; assets; interest in reduction in number of hours each week; side jobs; demographic information on members of the household; leisure activities in youth; position in sibling sequence; social origins; identification as seriously disabled in war; party preference (Sunday question); date of birth; presence at home in the last three days. Interviewer rating: presence of other persons during the interview; intervention of these persons in the course of the interview; reliability and willingness of respondent to cooperate. Also encoded was: sex of interviewer; age of interviewer; type of building; length of interview; date of interview. Beurteilung der beruflichen Situation. Themen: Ausbildungsdaten; Wochenstunden; Überstunden; Art der Überstundenvergütung; Grund für Überstunden; berufliche Weiterbildung; Teilnahme an Weiterbildungsveranstaltungen; detaillierte Angaben zur beruflichen Karriere; Gründe für Tätigkeitswechsel; Charakterisierung der Belastungen durch die derzeitige und die früheren Berufstätigkeiten; Arbeitszufriedenheit bei der derzeitigen sowie bei der vorherigen Tätigkeit (Skala); Betroffenheit von Arbeitslosigkeit und Einschätzung der derzeitigen Arbeitsplatzsicherheit; eigene Chancen am Arbeitsmarkt; Zufriedenheit mit dem Verdienst; Hauptgründe für die Aufnahme der derzeitigen Tätigkeit; Einschätzung der Aufstiegsmöglichkeiten; erfahrene Anerkennung im Beruf; mögliche Schäden durch nachlässige Arbeitsverrichtung; Interesse an Selbständigkeit; Hauptgrund für eine Beendigung der Erwerbstätigkeit vor Erreichen des Rentenalters bzw. Gründe für das Weiterarbeiten nach der Altersgrenze; Arbeitsorientierung; Einkommensgerechtigkeit; Bezug von leistungsabhängigem Einkommen; Gründe für die erhaltenen Lohnbzw. Gehaltsverbesserungen; über das Monatsgehalt hinausgehende Gratifikationen; detaillierte Ermittlungen der Einkommensquellen aller Personen im Haushalt; Vermögen; Interesse an Verringerung der Wochenstundenzahl; Nebentätigkeiten; demographische Angaben über die Haushaltsmitglieder; Freizeitbeschäftigungen in der Jugendzeit; Stellung in der Geschwisterfolge; soziale Herkunft; Schwerkriegsbeschädigtenausweis; Geburtsdatum; Anwesenheit zuhause in den letzten drei Tagen. Demographie: Alter; Geschlecht; Religiosität; Parteipräferenz (Sonntagsfrage); Interviewerrating: Anwesenheit anderer Personen während des Interviews; Eingriff dieser Personen in den Interviewablauf; Kooperationsbereitschaft und Zuverlässigkeit des Befragten. Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Interviewergeschlecht; Intervieweralter; Haustyp; Interviewdauer; Interviewdatum. Representative sample Repräsentative Auswahl

This statistic shows the median household income in the United States from 1990 to 2023 in 2023 U.S. dollars. The median household income was 80,610 U.S. dollars in 2023, an increase from the previous year. Household incomeThe median household income depicts the income of households, including the income of the householder and all other individuals aged 15 years or over living in the household. Income includes wages and salaries, unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support payments received, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely. The median household income in the United States varies from state to state. In 2020, the median household income was 86,725 U.S. dollars in Massachusetts, while the median household income in Mississippi was approximately 44,966 U.S. dollars at that time. Household income is also used to determine the poverty line in the United States. In 2021, about 11.6 percent of the U.S. population was living in poverty. The child poverty rate, which represents people under the age of 18 living in poverty, has been growing steadily over the first decade since the turn of the century, from 16.2 percent of the children living below the poverty line in year 2000 to 22 percent in 2010. In 2021, it had lowered to 15.3 percent. The state with the widest gap between the rich and the poor was New York, with a Gini coefficient score of 0.51 in 2019. The Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality and a score of one indicates a society where one person would have all the money and all other people have nothing.