Household Income Up Slightly

The average American household earned more money last year than in 2004, according to a Census Bureau report released recently.

Based on a sampling of 3 million households, median U.S. household income for 2005 was $46,326, an increase of 1.1 percent in real, inflation-adjusted dollars over the previous year. It was the first time real income rose since 1999.

The nation's poverty rate, at percent 12.6 percent, and the number of Americans living in poverty, 37 million, were statistically identical to the year before. It was the first time since 2000 that the poverty rate had not climbed.

Income rose in the West (1.5 percent) and Northeast (2.9 percent) and was unchanged in the South and Midwest. Median income was highest in the Northeast ($50,882) and lowest in the South ($42,138).

Although real household income was up, wages and salaries lost ground. Wages for men fell 1.8 percent to $41,386; wages for women fell 1.3 percent to $31,858.

Read more here.