Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2021
SEPT. 13, 2022?? The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income in 2021 was not statistically different than 2020. The official poverty rate of 11.6% was also not statistically different between 2020 and 2021. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2021 was 7.8%, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points from 2020. Meanwhile, the percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of 2021 was 91.7% (compared to 91.4% in 2020.) An estimated 8.3% of people, or 27.2 million, did not have health insurance at any point during 2021, according to findings from the 2022 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). That?s compared with an estimated 8.6% of people, or 28.3 million, who did not have health insurance at any point during 2020.
Real median household income was $70,784 in 2021, not statistically different from the 2020 estimate of $71,186. Income estimates are expressed in real or 2021 dollars to reflect changes in the cost of living. Between 2020 and 2021, inflation rose 4.7%; this is the largest annual increase in the cost-of-living adjustment since 1990. You can find more in-depth analysis in our recent Random Samplings blog.
 Research Matters Blog: How Has the Pandemic Continued to Affect Survey Response? Using Administrative Data to Evaluate Nonresponse in the 2022 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement
SEPT. 13, 2022
WRITTEN BY: JONATHAN ROTHBAUM AND ADAM BEE
In the latest release of its annual income report, Income in the United States: 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau tabulates the national income distribution using survey responses collected during February through April 2022 (with the majority of data collected in March) as part of the 2022 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). However, as Research Matters blog posts from each of the last two years have explained (in 2020 and 2021), administration of the CPS ASEC has been negatively impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, yielding lower response rates. In-person CPS interviews have resumed since September 2021, so restrictions placed on the ASEC 2021 were no longer in place in 2022. Data collection operations in 2022 were similar to pre-pandemic methods, except in geographic areas where there was high risk for exposure to the virus, but response rates have remained low.
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