Americans' income hits record, with wide gaps mirroring Indiana disparities
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U.S. household income hit a record in 2025, but the lowest earners barely shared in the gains, new census data show.
Why it matters: Broader measures of financial security show some Hoosiers still getting squeezed by medical costs, uneven income gains and a thinning public safety net — even as Americans look richer than ever.
Context: The 2025 Census Bureau report largely captures the economy before the major safety-net reductions in President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" took hold.
By the numbers: The median household income in Indiana was $77,960, pre-tax, and $67,040 post-tax.
- Median household income nationwide rose 2.6% to $87,460 pre-tax in 2025, the highest inflation-adjusted level since records began in 1967.
- Median post-tax household income climbed 3.1% to $76,060.
- Indiana's poverty rate, measured using a three-year average, was 9.3%, lower than the national rate of 10.7%.
Between the lines: The Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in taxes, government benefits, housing, work and medical expenses, averaged 10.3% in Indiana and 13% nationwide over the same three years.
- Medical expenses put an estimated 7.7 million more people below the supplemental poverty line in 2025, the Census Bureau said.
Yes, but: The report suggests low-income households largely missed out on the economy's gains.
- Income among the wealthiest 10% rose 1.7%, while remaining stagnant among the bottom 10%.
- Households at the 90th percentile earned about $261,300, more than 13 times what households at the 10th percentile earned.
- 52.4% of all household income went to the top fifth percentile, while 3% went to the bottom fifth.
Threat level: Big racial income gaps persist for some groups.
- Asian American households had the highest median income at $126,300 in 2025, compared with $91,930 for white households and $59,980 for Black American households.
- Household income rose among Black Americans and white households, but remained flat among Asian Americans.
- Poverty among Hispanics dropped to a record low of 13.9%, though their median household income showed no significant change from 2024.
Zoom in: In Indiana, poverty and pay gaps fall along gender lines as well, per the Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
- From 2019 to 2024, the poverty rate among Indiana women rose from 11.3% to 12.4% while the rate among men dropped to 9.3% from 9.7%.
- Meanwhile, the median pay for women who worked in Indiana in 2023 was $35,800 — about $14,500 less than men and the 15th-largest dollar gap in the U.S.
What we're watching: The 2025 numbers may represent the last snapshot before major federal safety-net cuts begin showing up in the census data, Robert Greenstein, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, tells Axios.