Median Household Income Declines Fractionally In June
Doug Short | Jul 26, 2015 12:34AM ET
The Sentier Research monthly median household income data series is now available for June. The nominal median household income was down $60 month-over-month but up $1,250 year-over-year. That's a 0.1% MoM decrease and a 2.3% YoY increase. Adjusted for inflation, the latest income was down $235 MoM and up $1,150 YoY. The real numbers equate to a -0.4% MoM decrease and a 2.1% YoY increase.
In real dollar terms, the median annual income is 4.5% lower ($2,588) than its interim high in January 2008 but well off its low in August 2011.
Background on Sentier Research
The traditional source of household income data is the Census Bureau, which publishes annual household income data in mid-September for the previous year.
here ). The numbers in their report differ from the Census Bureau's in three key respects:
- It is a monthly rather than annual series, which gives a more granular view of trends.
- Their numbers are more current. The Census Bureau's 2013 data will remain its latest until mid-September, 2015.
- Sentier Research uses the more familiar this commentary .
Monthly Median Household Income Since 2000
The first chart below is an overlay of the nominal values and real monthly values chained in the dollar value as of the latest month. The red line illustrates the history of nominal median household, and the blue line shows the real (inflation-adjusted value). Callouts show specific nominal and real monthly values for the January 2000 start date and the peak and post-peak troughs.
In the latest press release, Sentier Research spokesman Gordon Green summarizes the recent data:
Although median annual household income did not change significantly in June, we continue to see a general upward trend in income since the low-point reached in August 2011. Our time series charts clearly illustrate that although the economic recovery officially began in June 2009, the recovery in household income did not begin to emerge until after August 2011.
As for the data itself, Sentier makes it available in Excel format for a small fee (here ). We have used the latest Sentier data to create the charts in this update illustrating the nominal and real income trends during the 21st century.
The blue line in the chart above paints the less optimistic "real" picture. Since we've chained in latest dollar value and the overall timeframe has been inflationary, the earlier monthly values are adjusted upward accordingly. In addition to the obvious difference in earlier real values, we can also see that real incomes peaked before the nominal (January of 2008, one month after the recession began, versus July 2008). Also the real post-recession decline bottomed later than the nominal (August 2011 versus September 2010).
Get The News You Want
The next chart is our preferred way to show the nominal and real household income -- the percent change over time. Essentially we have taken the monthly series for both the nominal and real household incomes and divided them by their respective values at the beginning of 2000. The advantage to this approach is that it clearly quantifies the changes in both series and avoids a common distraction of using dollar amounts ("How does my household stack up?").
The reality illustrated here is that the real median household income series spent most of the first nine years of the 21st century struggling slightly below its purchasing power at the turn of the century. Real incomes (the blue line) hit an interim peak at a fractional 0.7% in early 2008, far below the nominal illusionary peak (as in money illusion ) of 27.2% six months later. The real median household income is now at -3.8%. In contrast, the real recovery from the trough has been depressingly slow.
A Closer Look at the Post-Recession Data
Let's take a closer look at the monthly data since the end of the Great Recession. The chart above highlights the real monthly median value percent change since 2007. The May 2015 real median annual income is 0.4% below where it was in June 2009, the month the economic recovery began.
In Summary…
As the excellent data from Sentier Research makes clear, the mainstream U.S. household was struggling before the Great Recession. At this point, real household incomes are in worse shape than they were in mid-2009 when the recession ended.
We'll close this update with another look at real growth, highlighting the actual monthly data points and adding a three-month moving average. The MA trend has been slowly zigzagging higher since the trough in 2011, which illustrates Gordon Green's observations in the latest press release.
Check back next month for another update.
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