Real median household income under Ronald Reagan

What the household in the exact middle of the income distribution received in a year, after inflation.

Over 1981-01-20 to 1989-01-19, measured in 2024 C-CPI-U Dollars:

Term average

63,643.33 2024 C-CPI-U Dollars

At the start

— 2024 C-CPI-U Dollars

At the end

— 2024 C-CPI-U Dollars

Change

— 2024 C-CPI-U Dollars

Low

60,420 2024 C-CPI-U Dollars (1984-01-01)

High

66,240 2024 C-CPI-U Dollars (1989-01-01)

Coverage

75% (6 observations)

Reading this series over a presidential term

One observation per year. A four-year term has about four points, dated by the income year rather than the survey year, so the coverage filter and the attribution lag both matter more here than on a monthly series.

Money income before taxes: it excludes taxes paid and credits received, employer-paid health insurance, food and housing assistance, and capital gains. A 2013 redesign of the income questions breaks the comparison across that year. When Census changes the inflation basis it restates the entire history, so dollar values from an older vintage of this series will not match the current one.

These are the observed values over the window above, and nothing more. This site does not say which direction is better, and none of this is a claim that Ronald Reagan caused the number to move.

What Real median household income measures · Ronald Reagan: the whole record · Chart it · Compare with another president · The source at FRED