WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans finally got a raise last year after eight years of stagnating incomes.
The Census Bureau says the typical U.S. household’s income rose 5.2 percent in 2015 to $56,516. That is still below the median household income of $57,423 in 2007, when the Great Recession began. The median is the point where half of households fall below and half are above.
The proportion of Americans in poverty also fell sharply last year, as 2.4 million more people found full-time, year-round jobs.
The poverty rate was 13.5 percent in 2015. That’s a drop of 1.2 percentage points from 2014, the largest decline in poverty since 1999. There were 43.1 million people in poverty, 3.5 million fewer than in 2014.
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