Today the U.S. Census Bureau released new income and poverty briefs from the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS), 1-year estimates and years prior. These briefs analyze changes in median household income and poverty rates for the nation, states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the most populous metropolitan areas between 2019 and 2021.
The Poverty: 2019 and 2021 brief reviews the depth of, and proximity to, poverty based on the distribution of people by income-to-poverty ratios at the above-mentioned geographic levels. It also examines the percentage of households that received Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits at the national, state and largest metro area levels. Changes in poverty rates and percentage of households that received SNAP are displayed back to 2005.
The Household Income: 2021 brief provides estimates of median household income and percent changes for the nation, states and the 25 most populous metropolitan areas between 2019 and 2021. Historical comparisons of median income are presented at the national level back to 2005. Estimates are also shown by race and Hispanic origin, and age of the householder. This brief concludes with an analysis of income inequality, as measured by the Gini index, at the national and state level.
In 2020, the ACS was impacted by data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in lower survey response rates. To mitigate the nonresponse bias in the 2020 data, the Census Bureau produced estimates using an experimental methodology. Comparisons in these briefs are made between 2019 and 2021, which have consistent weighting methodologies. Additional information on the 2020 experimental data is available online.
The ACS provides a wide range of important statistics about people and housing for every community in the nation. Single-year estimates from the ACS are available for geographic units with populations of 65,000 or more. This survey is the only source of local estimates for most of the more than 40 topics it covers for communities across the nation. More information about the 2021 ACS, 1-year estimates and related data is available in the press kit.