Real median household income in Vermont fell slightly over the last year (2011-2012) and from 2000 to 2012, according to a report by the US Census. Vermont incomes fell 1.6 percent in both of those measures. Vermont median household income was $53,840 in 2000 and $52,977 in 2012.
Meanwhile, the United States as a whole showed no statistically significant change between the 2011 American Community Survey (ACS) and the 2012 ACS (see Table Below).
The ACS 2011 US median household income was $51,324 and the ACS 2012 US median household income was $51,371. This is the first time since the 2007 ACS that median household income did not decrease. From 2006 to 2007 there was a significant increase in US median household income of 1.9 percent.
State estimates from the 2012 ACS ranged from $71,122 in Maryland to $37,095 in Mississippi. Median household income was lower than the U.S. median in 27 states and higher in 20 states and the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania ($51,230), Wisconsin ($51,059), and Iowa ($50,957) had median household income not statistically different from the U.S. median.
For 44 states and the District of Columbia, real median household income in the 2012 ACS was not statistically different from that in the 2011 ACS. Between the 2011 ACS and the 2012 ACS, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Oregon were the only states that showed an increase in real median household income. Between the 2010 ACS and the 2011 ACS, Vermont was the only state with a significant increase.
No state had an increase between the 2009 ACS and the 2010 ACS. Looking back to the 2008 and 2009 ACS, North Dakota was the only state to experience an increase in median household income (5.1 percent). Five states (Kansas, Louisiana, New York, New Jersey, and Texas) had increases between the 2007 ACS and the 2008 ACS, and between the 2006 ACS and the 2007 ACS, 33 states had increases in median household income.
Real median household income decreased between the 2011 ACS and 2012 ACS in Missouri (1.6 percent) and Virginia (2.2 percent).
Comparatively, between the 2010 ACS and 2011 ACS, 18 state medians decreased. Between the 2009 ACS and the 2010 ACS, 35 states showed decreases in median household income. Between the 2008 ACS and the 2009 ACS, 34 states experienced decreases, and between the 2007 ACS and the 2008 ACS, 5 states had decreases.
State Median Household Income: 2000 to 2012
Looking at ACS data back to 2000, four states and the District of Columbia showed real median household income that was significantly higher in 2012.
The District of Columbia (23.3 percent) and North Dakota (17.0 percent) showed the largest increases over time.
Comparatively, 35 states showed statistically significant decreases in real median household income from 2000 to 2012. Over the 12-year span, Indiana (13.2 percent), Georgia (13.7 percent), Mississippi (15.0 percent), and Michigan (19.1 percent) experienced some of the largest decreases in real median household income.
The recession that occurred from December 2007 through June 2009 may be part of the reason for those significant decreases. Prior to the recession, fewer states showed decreases in median household income. From the 2000 ACS to the 2007 ACS, only seven states showed significant decreases in median household income. Among the largest decreases in this period were Michigan and Mississippi, both at 8.4 percent. There were 17 states and the District of Columbia that had median household income that increased between 2000 and 2007. Wyoming (10.9 percent) had one of the largest increases.
National Median Household Income: 2000 through 2012
From the 2000 ACS to the 2012 ACS, real US median household income decreased 6.6 percent. The U.S. median household income decreased from $55,030 in 2000 to $51,371 in 2012. There appeared to be stability in the beginning of the decade. By middecade, the nation had reached a peak in real median household income. The US ACS median household income in 2007 was $56,048. US median household income decreased 8.7 percent from the 2007 ACS to the 2011 ACS and showed no change in the 2012 ACS.
Median Household Income: 25 Most Populous Metropolitan Areas
According to the 2012 ACS, median household income ranged from $88,233 in the Washington/Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MDWV Metro Area to $44,402 in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area. Along with the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metro Area the median household income for the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA Metro Area ($74,922), the Boston/Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH Metro Area ($71,738), and the Baltimore/Towson, MD Metro Area ($66,970) were among metropolitan areas with the highest median household income. In addition to the Tampa-St Petersburg-Clearwater, FL Metro Area, the median household income for the Pittsburgh, PA Metro Area ($50,489), the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI Metro Area ($50,310), the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL Metro Area ($46,648), and the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL Metro Area ($46,020) were among the lowest median household incomes for metropolitan areas.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul/Bloomington, MN-WI Metro Area (2.4 percent) and the San Antonio/New Braunfels, TX Metro Area (3.8 percent) were the only areas that increased in median household income from the 2011 ACS to the 2012 ACS. The Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA Metro Area was the only area that decreased in median household income from the 2011 ACS to the 2012 ACS (2.8 percent).
SOURCE AND ACCURACY
The data presented in this report are based on the ACS sample interviewed from January 2012 through December 2012. The estimates based on this sample describe the actual average values of person, household, and housing unit characteristics over this period of collection. Sampling error is the uncertainty between an estimate based on a sample and the corresponding value that would be obtained if the estimate were based on the entire population (as from a census). Measures of sampling error are provided in the form of margins of error for all estimates included in this report. All comparative statements in this report have undergone statistical testing, and comparisons are significant at the 90 percent level unless otherwise noted. In addition to sampling error, nonsampling error may be introduced during any of the operations used to collect and process survey data such as editing, reviewing, or keying data from questionnaires. For more information on sampling and estimation methods, confidentiality protection, and sampling and nonsampling errors, please see the 2012 ACS Accuracy of the Data document located at www.census.gov.