Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2021

SEPT. 13, 2022 — The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that real median household income in 2021 was not statistically different than 2020. The official poverty rate of 11.6% was also not statistically different between 2020 and 2021. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rate in 2021 was 7.8%, a decrease of 1.4 percentage points from 2020. Meanwhile, the percentage of people with health insurance coverage for all or part of 2021 was 91.7% (compared to 91.4% in 2020.) An estimated 8.3% of people, or 27.2 million, did not have health insurance at any point during 2021, according to findings from the 2022 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS ASEC). That’s compared with an estimated 8.6% of people, or 28.3 million, who did not have health insurance at any point during 2020.

Real median household income was $70,784 in 2021, not statistically different from the 2020 estimate of $71,186. Income estimates are expressed in real or 2021 dollars to reflect changes in the cost of living. Between 2020 and 2021, inflation rose 4.7%; this is the largest annual increase in the cost-of-living adjustment since 1990. You can find more in-depth analysis in our recent Random Samplings blog.