U.S. median incomes show third straight year of growth

The income of a median U.S. household rose for a third straight year in 2017, boosted by a rise in the number of Americans with full-time jobs.

The Census Bureau said incomes for a typical household, adjusted for inflation, rose 1.8 percent, from $60,309 in 2016 to $61,372. Yet households are still earning essentially the same income they did in 2007 just before the Great Recession. Their inflation-adjusted median income remains below the record for a typical household—the $62,000 reached in 1999.

Last year, the number of people with jobs rose 1.7 million. And the number of workers with full-time permanent jobs increased 2.4 million. For years after the recession ended in 2009, the number of part-time workers who would have preferred full-time jobs remained elevated.