This report presents data on median household income at the national and state levels based on the 2012 and 2013 American Community Surveys (ACS). Estimates from the 2013 ACS show a significant increase in median household income at the national level and for many states.¹ Some 2013 ACS metropolitan area income estimates are also discussed throughout this report.² The ACS provides detailed estimates of demographic, social, economic, and housing characteristics for states, congressional districts, counties, places, and other localities every year. A description of the ACS is provided in the text box “What Is the American Community Survey?”

In the 2013 ACS, information on income was collected between January and December 2013, and people were asked about income for the previous 12 months (the income reference period). This yielded a total income time span covering 23 months (January 2012 to November 2013). Therefore, adjacent ACS years have income reference months in common and comparisons of 2013 economic conditions with those in 2012 will not be precise.³

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¹ The medians from this report were calculated from the microdata and household distributions using 2013 dollars. Inflation adjusting previous year published estimates using the CPI-U-RS will not match exactly to the estimates in this report.
² The text of this report discusses data for the United States, including the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Data for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, collected with the Puerto Rico Community Survey, are shown in Table 1, Table 2, Figure 1, and Figure 2.
³ For a discussion of this and related issues, see Howard Hogan, “Measuring Population Change Using the American Community Survey,” Applied Demography in the 21st Century, Steven H. Murdock and David A. Swanson, Springer Netherlands, 2008.