Real Median Income and Number of Households

The visualization below shows the real median household income and the number of households since 2005 for the 50 largest metropolitan areas.

We observe that the areas with the highest median household income are not the areas with the highest number of households. For instance in 2013, San Jose, CA had the highest median household income at around $92,000 while the number of households in that area was 637,628. Washington, DC was next at around $90,000 and San Francisco, CA was third at around $80,000. However, the median household income for New York, NY was equal to $66,000, although households in New York increased by 4.3% the last couple of years to 7,081,691. Similarly, Los Angeles, CA had 4,251,495 households and the median household income was $59,000.

During the period from 2005 - 2013, the real median household income increased in one out of four metro areas. Salt Lake City experienced the highest increase (1% annual growth). With respect to median household incomes for the nation as a whole, it decreased annually by an average of 0.7% - from $55,168 in 2005 to $52,250 in 2013.

Income in Houston, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Washington, DC remained above the 2005 level through 2013, unlike many metro areas. Almost all metro areas experienced a decrease of their income in 2009.  Specifically, 30 out of 50 metro areas had a lower income in 2009 compared to 2005. Twenty–nine metros never regained the 2005 level. San Jose, CA was the only exception, where the median income increased by 1% in 2012 and 0.3% in 2013 compared to 2005 level.

Please use the slider to see the median household income and the number of households over the last eight years for the 50 largest metro areas.