San Francisco Bay Area median income dipped from pre-pandemic
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The median household income across the San Francisco metro area fell 3.3% between 2019 and 2022, per new Census Bureau data.
Why it matters: The latest numbers reflect the pandemic's long-lasting impact on the economy.
By the numbers: In 2022, the median income in the San Francisco Bay Area was $128,151, compared with $132,586 in 2019, adjusted for inflation.
- Nationally, median household income fell 1.6% between 2019 and 2022, adjusted for inflation, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj report.
Zoom in: The share of San Francisco area residents making between $50,000 and $75,000 annually decreased from 11% to 10% between 2019 and 2022, while the share making more than $100,000 increased from 56% to 59%.
Details: The new data comes by way of the Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey (ACS) one-year estimates, released last week.
- The ACS is one of the best resources available for a regularly published, quantified look at myriad facets of American life, down to a remarkably local level.
The intrigue: The COVID-19 pandemic "changed the geography of where money is made in the United States," Axios Macro's Neil Irwin reports, as many higher-income Americans decamped from cities like New York and San Francisco to "rural and exurban places and popular vacation destinations."
Of note: Because the latest ACS release is based on 2022 data, it's capturing what some call the "late pandemic era," when many elements of normality returned but the pandemic still loomed in the background, affecting many aspects of life.
Go deeper: Where America stands