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A Newsweek map shows which U.S. region has seen the highest increase in median household income—and the Midwest came out top.
The U.S. Census Bureau has released a report on its estimates of income, earnings and inequality for the calendar year of 2023, based on data collected in the 2024 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplements.
Its analysis shows that the Midwest region had the highest increase, by 6.6 percent, bringing the median household income up to $81,020.
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The Southern region had the second-highest increase, by 3.3 percent, up to $73,280, closely followed by the Northeast region—up 3.2 percent to $86,250.
Only the West went without an increase in median household income between 2022 and 2023.
Despite this, the West has the highest median income ($88,290), the Northeast came in second ($86,250,) the Midwest third ($81,020) and the South last ($73,280).
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When broken down into household types, family households with married couples came out on top with the highest median income ($119,400) while family households maintained by single men saw their median income increase by 7 percent from $76,550 to $81,890.
Family households maintained by single women had the lowest median income — $59,470—and this did not significantly change between 2022 and 2023.
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In terms of race, Asian households had the highest median income in 2023 ($112,800), followed by non-Hispanic white ($89,050), Hispanic ($65,540) and then Black households ($56,490).
While people who were born in the U.S. generally saw an increase in their median income—by 4.5 percent—people born in foreign countries did not see a significant change.
Using the Gini index, which measures the amount that any two incomes differ, on average, relative to mean income on a scale from 0.0 and 0.1, there was no significant change in income inequality.
"This indicates that income increased at the bottom, middle and top of the income distribution in 2023," researchers said.
It comes as inflation hit a three-year low in August, paving the way for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates next week.
Consumer prices rose at a rate of 2.5 percent on last year, according to the Labor Department, which is the fifth consecutive annual decline and the smallest increase since February 2021.
Inflation rates are a good sign of how well the country's economy is functioning, and the drop in inflation means that the Federal Reserve is likely to cut interest rates, if it believes doing so will not result in more inflation.
The economy has repeatedly come up as the most important issue for voters, ahead of the November election, with Donald Trump still leading on it in multiple polls, despite Kamala Harris' gaining ground over the past few weeks.
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