The U.S. poverty rate fell to the lowest level on record in 2025 while median household income climbed to a record high, the Census Bureau said Tuesday. The official poverty rate dropped 0.5 percentage points to 10.2% last year, leaving 34.5 million people in poverty, according to data released by the bureau. The decline was the second consecutive annual drop and the lowest rate since the agency began tracking the measure, while median household income rose 2.6% to $87,460, the highest on record dating back to 1967.
The White House hailed the figures, which cover the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term. “President Trump’s proven economic agenda delivered historic working-class prosperity in his first year back in office, with record-high real income and record-low poverty—breaking the records he set during his first term,” the administration said in a statement.
