Digging into the 2017 ACS: Improved income growth for Native Americans, but lots of variation in the pace of recovery for different Asian ethnic groups
Thursday’s release of 2017 American Community Survey (ACS) data allows us to fill in the blanks for racial and ethnic groups that were not covered in Wednesday’s Census Bureau report on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in 2017. The ACS is an annual nationwide survey that provides detailed demographic, social, and economic data for smaller populations like Native Americans and the thirteen distinct ethnic groups that make up the Asian population. (For the sake of comparability, in this blog post, the national estimates of median household income and poverty that I refer to are from the ACS.)
Between 2016 and 2017, the real median household income for Native Americans increased 3.2 percent, to $41,882. Native American median household income grew faster in 2017 than 2016 (1.8 percent), essentially bringing it back to the 2007 pre-recession level (though technically still $5 lower). Even with this boost, the median household income of Native Americans was just 69.4 percent of the national median in 2017. While this data comes from a different source than Wednesday’s data on household income and covers a slightly different survey period, it suggests that Native American median household income is similar to that of black households, but Native American households experienced much faster income growth than blacks over the last year.
Median household income for Native Americans and total population (2017 dollars), 2005–2017
| Native Americans | Total population | |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | $41,926 | $58,185 |
| 2006 | $41,148 | $59,051 |
| 2007 | $41,887 | $60,135 |
| 2008 | $43,159 | $59,382 |
| 2009 | $40,522 | $57,518 |
| 2010 | $39,505 | $56,388 |
| 2011 | $38,440 | $55,163 |
| 2012 | $37,769 | $54,948 |
| 2013 | $38,620 | $55,072 |
| 2014 | $38,584 | $55,613 |
| 2015 | $39,866 | $57,709 |
| 2016 | $40,573 | $58,856 |
| 2017 | $41,882 | $60,336 |
Source: Author’s analysis of American Community Survey data 2005-2017
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Poverty among all Native Americans declined between 2016 and 2017 (from 26.2 to 25.4 percent) and 32.7 percent of Native American children lived in poverty in 2017—down 1.1 percentage points from 2016. Both rates exceed those reported for blacks in the Current Population Survey. The rate of poverty among Native Americans was nearly double the national average for all people and 1.8 times higher for children.
Share of people in poverty, Native Americans and total population, 2016 and 2017
| Native Americans | Total population | |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 26.2% | 14.0% |
| 2017 | 25.4% | 13.4% |
Source: Author’s analysis of American Community Survey data, 2016 and 2017
Share of children in poverty, Native Americans and total population, 2016 and 2017
| Native Americans | Total population | |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 33.8% | 19.5% |
| 2017 | 32.7% | 18.4% |
Source: Author’s analysis of American Community Survey data, 2016 and 2017
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According to Wednesday’s Census report, Asian Americans and African Americans were the only groups who have yet to recover the income lost during the Great Recession. Asian American real median household income declined 2.2 percent between 2016 and 2017, but the difference was statistically insignificant. The 2017 ACS data shows the variance in income across the different Asian ethnic populations, as well as their disparate rates of recovery. In 2017, median household income among Asian ethnic groups ranged from $114,261 for Indians to $39,730 for the Burmese. Ten years since the start of the Great Recession in 2007, Bangladeshi and Indian households have experienced the most income growth (16.3 percent and 15 percent, respectively) among those with reported income in 2007. While Chinese and Filipino households remain just short of their 2007 income levels, real median incomes of Laotian households are 6.3 percent lower and Thai median household income is 5.8 percent lower.