WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- The real median household income in the U.S. increased by 3.2 percent in 2016, and the official poverty rate decreased by 0.8 percentage points, indicating that continued economic growth and dropping unemployment rate made American households richer, according to Census Bureau data released on Tuesday.
Median household income in the United States in 2016 was 59,039 dollars, an increase in real terms of 3.2 percent from the 2015 median income of 57,230. This is the second consecutive annual increase in median household income.
The nation's official poverty rate in 2016 was 12.7 percent, with 40.6 million people in poverty, 2.5 million fewer than in 2015. The 0.8 percentage point decrease from 2015 to 2016 represents the second consecutive annual decline in poverty.
Historic data show that the 2016 poverty rate is not statistically different from the 2007 rate (12.5 percent), the year before the financial crisis happened.
The data also show that the real median income of non-Hispanic white (65,041), black (39,490), and Hispanic (47,675) households increased 2.0 percent, 5.7 percent, and 4.3 percent, respectively, between 2015 and 2016.
Among the race groups, Asian households had the highest median income in 2016 (81,431).
Households with the highest median household incomes were in the Northeast (64,390) and the West (64,275), followed by the Midwest (58,305) and the South (53,861).
The Gini index, a gauge measuring income inequality with 0.0 representing total income equality and 1.0 equivalent to total inequality, was 0.481 in 2016, almost the same as in 2015.
