In the year ending in the third quarter of 2024, the median American worker could afford the same goods and services as they did in 2019, plus an additional $1,600 to spend or save per year.
In the third quarter of 2024, median weekly real earnings—that is, earnings that have been adjusted for inflation—rose by 0.8 percent, or 3.3 percent at an annual rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The solid increase continues to reflect an improvement in the purchasing power for the median worker.
We incorporated the latest earnings data, along with consumer price data through the third quarter, into the analysis of our December 2023 blog post on the purchasing power of American households. The new data shows that income continues to rise more than prices since before the pandemic—the typical middle-class worker has seen their real weekly earnings rise 2.8 percent since 2019 and 1.2 percent from a year before.[1] Comparing the increase in median earnings with the change in the price of the typical consumer basket since 2019, we find that in the year ending in the third quarter of 2024, the median American worker could afford the same goods and services as they did in 2019, plus an additional $1,600 to spend or save per year.
[1] As in the July update, this update uses seasonally adjusted data and four-quarter moving averages to smooth through quarterly fluctuations.