Washington, DC…The U.S. median household income was $68,703 in 2019, 6.8% higher than in 2018, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released today. That’s the highest median U.S. household income since they began recording it. But the COVID-19 pandemic affected who responded , potentially biasing the estimate upward. So, was household income last year really the highest on record?

Looking at how COVID-19 affected who responded the Census Bureau believes that the numbers were slightly skewed upward.  Even with that their current estimate is that income in 2019 was about 4.1% higher than in 2018, indicating median household income in 2019 was the highest on record.