Median Household Income in January 2026

Motio Research reports their initial estimate of U.S. median household income for December 2025 is $87,270, a $450 (or 0.5%) increase from their initial December 2025 estimate of $86,820.

The firm’s estimates are based on income data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau through its monthly Current Population Survey. This survey is conducted during the week containing the 12th day of the month following the month in which its data applies. Motio Research adjusts its raw monthly estimates to account for the effects of seasonality and inflation, presenting its results in the form of an index with the median household income of January 2010 assigned a value of 100. The initial value of the firm’s U.S. Real Median Household Income Index for January 2026 is 118.9.

The following screenshot of Motio Research’s interactive chart shows how this index has changed from January 2010 through January 2026:

Evidence is mounting that Motio Research’s survey-based estimates, which have seen a surge in median household income since July 2025, is picking up on a real change in trend from the pattern established since April 2021. We’ve advanced a hypothesis that explains why this development is occurring, which we’ll update in a separate analysis in the near future.

Analyst’s Notes

Political Calculations produces median household income estimates using other original data sources that complement Motio Research’s survey-based estimates. Because of the ongoing delays in official aggregate wage and salary data being reported, we’ll present our estimate for December 2025 in this edition and our estimate for January 2026 in next month’s edition. We expect to fully catch up with Motio Research’s estimates with our February and March 2026 estimates in early May 2026.

Political Calculations’ official estimate for median household income in December 2025 is $85,931, which is $101 higher than the ballpark estimate we projected last month. The following chart presents our estimates of U.S. median household income, both adjusted for inflation (blue) and not-adjusted for inflation (red) for each month from January 2000 through December 2025.

Political Calculations’ December 2025 estimate is $889 (one percent) below Motio Research’s estimate of $86,820 for the month.

Since the last edition of this series, the U.S. Census Bureau has released revised resident population estimates for the United States, adjusting many of its previous estimates downward. The revision is significant, affecting estimates extending back to March 2020, with the biggest changes taking place in the period from July 2024 to the present.

Image credit: U.S. Census Bureau. We modified the public domain image to make it more generally applicable beyond reporting the median household income from 2022.