Current Population Reports

Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020

Current Population Reports

By Emily A. Shrider, Melissa Kollar, Frances Chen, and Jessica Semega Issued September 2021

P60-273

Acknowledgments

Jessica Semega and Melissa Kollar prepared the income section of this report under the direction of Charles Hokayem, Chief of the Income Statistics Branch. Emily A. Shrider and Frances Chen prepared the poverty section under the direction of Liana E. Fox, Chief of the Poverty Statistics Branch. Trudi J. Renwick, Assistant Division Chief for Economic Characteristics in the Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division, provided overall direction.

Mallory Bane and Susan S. Gajewski, under the supervision of David Watt, all of the Demographic Systems Division, and Lisa Cheok of the Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs, processed the Current Population Survey 2021 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC) file.

Andy Chen, Kirk E. Davis, Raymond E. Dowdy, Lan N. Huynh, Chandararith R. Phe, and Adam W. Reilly programmed and produced the historical, detailed, and publication tables under the direction of Hung X. Pham, Chief of the Tabulation and Applications Branch, Demographic Surveys Division.

Emily Hood and Alfred G. Meier, under the supervision of KeTrena Phipps and David V. Hornick, all of the Demographic Statistical Methods Division, conducted statistical review.

Lisa Cheok of the Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs provided overall direction for the survey implementation. Roberto Cases and Zakery Peterson of the Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs, and Charlie Carter and Agatha Jung of the Information Technology Directorate, prepared and programmed the computer-assisted interviewing instrument used to conduct the CPS ASEC.

Additional people within the U.S. Census Bureau also made significant contributions to the preparation of this report. Gloria G. Guzm?n, Ethan Krohn, Matthew Marlay, Lindsey Monte, Jonathan Vespa, and Danielle Wilson reviewed the contents.

Stacey Barber, Faye Brock, Paula Lancaster, and Stephen Gibson provided publication management, graphic design and composition, editorial review, and 508 compliancy for print and electronic media under the direction of Christine E. Geter, Acting Chief of the Graphic and Editorial Services Branch, Public Information Office. William A. Burbano and George E. Williams of the Administrative and Customer Services Division provided printing management.

Census Bureau field representatives and telephone interviewers collected the data under extreme circumstances. The additional challenge of obtaining interviews during the COVID-19 pandemic increased the difficulty of this task. Without their dedication, the preparation of this report or any report from the Current Population Survey would be impossible.

Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020

Issued September 2021

P60-273

U.S. Department of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo, Secretary

Don Graves, Deputy Secretary

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU Ron S. Jarmin, Acting Director

Suggested Citation

Shrider, Emily A., Melissa Kollar, Frances Chen, and Jessica Semega,

U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports,

P60-273, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020, U.S. Government Publishing Office,

Washington, DC, September 2021.

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU Ron S. Jarmin, Acting Director Ron S. Jarmin, Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer Victoria A. Velkoff, Associate Director for Demographic Programs David G. Waddington, Chief, Social, Economic, and Housing Statistics Division

Contents

TEXT

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Summary of Findings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

INCOME IN THE UNITED STATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on the

Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Household Income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Type of Household . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Race and Hispanic Origin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Age of Householder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Nativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Residence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Educational Attainment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Income Inequality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Equivalence-Adjusted Income Inequality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Earnings and Work Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Comparing Changes in Earnings and Number of Workers to the Great Recession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Overall Poverty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Race and Hispanic Origin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Sex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Nativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Residence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Work Experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Disability Status. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Educational Attainment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Children by Family Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Ratio of Income to Poverty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON INCOME AND POVERTY. . . . . . . . . . 21 State and Local Estimates of Income and Poverty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Longitudinal Estimates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

SOURCE AND ACCURACY OF THE ESTIMATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020 iii

FIGURES Figure 1. Median Household Income and Percent Change by Selected Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Figure 2. Real Median Household Income by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1967 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Figure 3. Income Distribution Measures and Percent Change Using Money Income and Equivalence-

Adjusted Income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Figure 4. Median Earnings and Percent Change by Work Status and Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Figure 5. Female-to-Male Earnings Ratio and Median Earnings of Full-Time, Year-Round Workers

15 Years and Older by Sex: 1960 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Figure 6. Total and Full-Time, Year-Round Workers 15 Years and Older With Earnings by Sex:

1967 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Figure 7. Percent Change in Median Earnings and Number of Workers: 2007 to 2009 and 2019 to 2020. . . 13 Figure 8. Number in Poverty and Poverty Rate: 1959 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Figure 9. Poverty Rate and Percentage-Point Change by Selected Characteristics: People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Figure 10. Poverty Rates by Age and Sex: 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Figure 11. Poverty Rates by Age: 1959 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Figure 12. Poverty Rate and Percentage-Point Change by Type of Family: Families and People. . . . . . . . . . . 19 Figure 13. People With Income Below Specified Ratios of Their Poverty Thresholds by Age: 2020. . . . . . . . . 21 Figure D-1. Historical Median Income Using Alternative Price Indices: 1967 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Appendixes Appendix A. Estimates of Income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

How Income Is Measured. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Business Cycles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Annual Average Consumer Price Index Research Series (CPI-U-RS) Using Current Methods All Items:

1947 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Cost-of-Living Adjustment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Appendix B. Estimates of Poverty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 How Poverty Is Calculated. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Poverty Thresholds for 2020 by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18 Years. . . . . . . . . . 51 Weighted Average Poverty Thresholds in 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Appendix C. Post-Tax Household Income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Appendix D. Historical Income Alternative Inflation Series. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 Appendix E. Additional Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Customized Tables. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Public-Use Microdata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

CPS ASEC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Census Data API. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Technical Documentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

iv Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020

U.S. Census Bureau

APPENDIX TABLES Table A-1. Income Summary Measures by Selected Characteristics: 2019 and 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Table A-2. Households by Total Money Income, Race, and Hispanic Origin of Householder:

1967 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Table A-3. Income Distribution Measures Using Money Income and Equivalence-Adjusted Income:

2019 and 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Table A-4a. Selected Measures of Household Income Dispersion: 1967 to 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Table A-4b. Selected Measures of Household Income Dispersion: 1967 to 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Table A-5. Selected Measures of Equivalence-Adjusted Income Dispersion: 1967 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Table A-6. Earnings Summary Measures by Selected Characteristics: 2019 and 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Table A-7. Number and Real Median Earnings of Total Workers and Full-Time, Year-Round Workers

by Sex and Female-to-Male Earnings Ratio: 1960 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Table A-8. Percent Change in Earnings and Number of Workers: 2007 to 2009 and 2019 to 2020 . . . . . . . . . . 49 Table B-1. People in Poverty by Selected Characteristics: 2019 and 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Table B?2. Families and People in Poverty by Type of Family: 2019 and 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Table B-3. People With Income Below Specified Ratios of Their Poverty Thresholds by Selected

Characteristics: 2020 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Table B-4. Poverty Status of People by Family Relationship, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2020. . . . . . 56 Table B-5. Poverty Status of People by Age, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 1959 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Table B-6. Poverty Status of Families by Type of Family: 1959 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Table C-1. Post-Tax Household Income Summary Measures by Selected Characteristics: 2019 and 2020. . . . 72 Table C-2. Summary Measures by Selected Characteristics Using Money Income and Post-Tax

Income: 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Table C-3. Distribution Measures Using Post-Tax Income and Equivalence-Adjusted Post-Tax Income:

2019 and 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Table C-4. Distribution Measures Using Money Income, Post-Tax Income, Equivalence-Adjusted Income,

and Equivalence-Adjusted Post-Tax Income: 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Table D-1. Historical Median Income Using Alternate Price Indices: 1967 to 2020. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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