One of the best metrics the federal government puts out to describe how much money Americans make is median household income. It’s the point where half of households are above, and half are below.
After detailing the rising income of American families earlier this week, the U.S. Census Bureau is releasing state-by-state breakdowns Thursday. The numbers show that North Carolina families are making up more of the ground they lost since the recession.
Last year, North Carolina’s median household income rose 2.7 percent, finishing at $47,800. That’s the highest it’s been since 2009. But there's a catch, says Census Bureau’s Jon Rothbaum. Unfortunately, it's still not at the level it was at the peak before the recession, he says.
In North Carolina, that peak happened in 2008, when the state's median household income hit $51,243, adjusted for inflation. Last year's numbers are about 7 percent below the 2008 figure, meaning North Carolina still hasn't fully recovered from the recession.
