U.S. Household Incomes Slip, Poverty Rate Holds in 2014

Reporter II September 17, 2015

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In this April 4, 2013, file photo, a group of boys walk past a partially collapsed row house in Baltimore. The nation’s poverty rate stood still at 15 percent in 2012, the sixth straight year that it has failed to improve. The Census Bureau reported Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2013, that 46.5 million Americans were living in poverty in 2012. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Delly Mellor, of Delly's Deals, thumbs through a binder full of coupons that she carries on her grocery shopping trips at her home in Wilmington, N.C., in this photo from April 5. Mellor operates dellysdeals.com with a coupon database and information on couponing workshops. Although you should look through the Sunday newspaper coupon inserts, most coupons can be found online. (Mike Spencer/The Star-News, via AP) — (Mike Spencer/The Star-News, via AP)

Susan Heavey and Doina Chiacu, Reuters via FOX BUSINESS

(FoxBusiness.com) – American household incomes lost ground last year as the poverty rate remained flat, a sign the U.S. economic expansion had yet to lead to gains for many Americans five years after the 2007-2009 recession.

The data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday, which showed the inflation-adjusted median income slipping to $53,657 last year from $54,462 in 2013, offered a reminder of the tepid nature of the economy’s recovery.

“In 2014, real median household income was 6.5 percent lower than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession,” Census researchers wrote.

At the same time, the poverty rate held steady at 14.8 percent, the data showed. Census researchers said the change in the median income was not statistically significant.

The Census Bureau also said the number of people in the United States without health insurance coverage fell to 33 million last year, or 10.4 percent of the population, from 41.8 million, or 13.3 percent, in 2013.

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