Incomes fell in 7 major US cities in 2024—where Americans earned less

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Household incomes throughout the U.S. stayed fairly flat between 2023 and 2024, with the national median household income rising just over 1%, according to Census Bureau estimates.

But in some cities, even a 1% increase would have seemed somewhat like a boon. The median household income declined in seven of the 50 largest U.S. cities between 2023 and 2024, a recent SmartAsset analysis of Census Bureau data found.

Incomes in Minneapolis fell by the largest percentage at just over 4%, bringing the median household income there down to $77,732 from around $81,000 in 2023, SmartAsset found.

Families (and their money) on the move

Among households with children in Minneapolis, median incomes fell by over 19% between 2023 and 2024, per SmartAsset. That doesn’t necessarily mean families aren’t seeing the same wage gains other households are, though, says Jaclyn DeJohn, director of economic analysis at SmartAsset.

“While [the negative trend] may be indicative of families struggling to keep up with wage growth, it may also indicate other social or demographic trends,” she says.

Families that experience a divorce that leads to separated households and split incomes could contribute to the overall income decline among family households, she says. Or one parent may leave the workforce to stay home with the children.

Earning less than the previous year, but still more than the national median

In four of the seven major cities where incomes fell between 2023 and 2024, incomes were higher than the national median household income of $82,690 in 2023. The relatively high-earning cities like Denver, Seattle and Austin, Texas, may have seen declines, but incomes there are still well above the national median.

Big cities can be more prone to “volatility and potential for wage-growth events” due to economic dynamics like new businesses moving in and changes to local demographics, DeJohn says.

And though incomes grew at a rate of just over 1% nationwide between 2023 and 2024, they rose even slower in five of the largest U.S. cities:

Philadelphia (0.36%)
Indianapolis (0.41%)
Colorado Springs, Colorado (0.55%)
Omaha, Nebraska (0.56%)
Boston (0.89%)

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