Americans without college degrees and immigrants saw steep income declines in 2020

Non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics and Asian Americans saw their median household incomes decline significantly in 2020 amid the COVID-19 health crisis and economic upheaval spurred by the pandemic, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday.

Overall, the nation’s median household income decreased by 2.9% from $69,560 to $67,521 in 2020 compared to 2019. The findings mark the first time the U.S. median household income declined this drastically since 2011.

While the median household income of Black Americans remained about the same between 2019 and 2020, non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics and Asians saw their median household incomes decline by -2.7%, -2.6% and -4.5%, respectively.

The incomes of foreign-born householders and people without a high school diploma were among the most impacted groups. Those groups each saw their household median incomes decline by -5.7%.

In the Golden State, a 2020 report by the California Budget & Policy Center found that Latino, Black and Asian Californians were most impacted by job losses during the coronavirus pandemic than whites. At the peak of the pandemic-induced recession, the employment rate among immigrants in California reached 25%, the budget center’s report found.

Collectively, a total of 13.7 million people lost jobs between 2019 and 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Meanwhile, the official poverty rate in 2020 rose to 11.4%, the report showed. About 3.3 million more people were in poverty in 2020 than in 2019, a 1% increase in the official poverty rate from 2019.

It’s the first time the officially poverty rate increased after five consecutive annual declines, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The poverty rates among non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics also increased between 2019 and 2020. About 17% of Hispanics were in poverty in 2020, compared to 8.2% of non-Hispanic whites, the report found.

U.S. Census Bureau experts on Tuesday said the round of $1,200 stimulus checks approved by Congress helped stave off further economic hardship for millions of low-income, middle-class Americans.

“This shows the importance of our social safety net,” said Liana Fox, chief of the poverty statistics branch at the U.S. Census Bureau.

In January of this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state would develop its own stimulus payment program to help Californians earning below $75,000 a year during the health crisis. The second round of those payments are underway.

This story was originally published September 14, 2021 at 12:31 PM.