Census Bureau reports largest income increase since it started measuring in 1967

U.S. Household Incomes Surged 5.2% in 2015, First Gain Since 2007

By Nick Timiraos and Janet Adamy, WSJ
Updated Sept. 13, 2016 11:29 a.m. ET

Incomes in the U.S. surged in 2015, delivering the first increase for family households in eight years.

The median annual household income—the level at which half are above and half are below—rose 5.2% from a year earlier, or $2,800, after adjusting for inflation, to $56,500, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

The boost leaves household incomes around 1.6% below the 2007 level, before the last recession began. But the 5.2% annual gain is the largest such increase since the Census Bureau began releasing such data in 1967.

The official poverty rate in 2015 was 13.5%, down 1.2 percentage points from 14.8% in 2014, the report added.

The latest figures show how several years of robust growth in employment have finally helped a broad swath of the nation improve living standards—after several years of either flat incomes or sustained declines.

(More here.)