The US Bureau of Statistics today reported that the median income of American households in 2020 was $ 67,521, down 2.9% from 2019. The agency notes that this was the first significant cut since 2011. Experts attribute the decline in income to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, expressed in a drop in employment, a slowdown in economic activity and a decrease in the earnings of a significant part of the population.
In addition, the bureau reported that in 2020 the proportion of the population living below the poverty line in the United States increased by 1% – to 11.4%, or 37.2 million people. The poverty level in the United States is defined differently in different years for different categories of the population and depending on marital status – according to The Wall Street Journal, in 2020 a family of four with a total annual income of $ 26,200 is considered to be below the line poverty.
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