WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Census Bureau said household income was flat in 2012 following two consecutive years in which incomes dropped.
The median household income for 2012 was $51,017, statistically unchanged from 2011, when the median income was $51,100, the bureau said.
A comparison of real household income over the past five years, that is income not adjusted for inflation, shows an 8.3 percent decline since 2007, the year before the nation entered an economic recession, data shows.
The median earnings for women working full time was $37,791 in 2012, which is 77 percent of $49,398, the median earnings for men in full-time, year-round jobs last year.
The ratio of earnings between genders has not changed significantly since 2007, before the recession.
The nation's official poverty rate was 15 percent in 2012, a figure that equates to 46.5 million people living below the poverty line.
By comparison, the poverty rate in 2007, before the economic downturn, was 13.5 percent, the bureau said.
The number of people without health insurance fell in 2012 to 15.4 percent, down from 15.7 percent in 2011. That meant there were 48 million people without health insurance in 2012, statistically an insignificant change from the 48.6 million people without insurance in 2011.
The data was released Tuesday in a report titled, "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012."
