Income and human development

According to the United States Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2010 was $49,445. The median ranged from $64,308 among Asian American households to $32,068 among African American households.[157] Using purchasing power parity exchange rates, the overall median is similar to the most affluent cluster of developed nations.
As of 2007, Americans had the second highest median equivalised disposable household income among OECD nations, behind only Luxembourg, and the highest average disposable income and employee earnings.[182][183] After declining sharply during the middle of the 20th century, poverty rates have plateaued since the early 1970s, with 11–15% of Americans below the poverty line every year, and 58.5% spending at least one year in poverty between the ages of 25 and 75.[184][185] In 2010, 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty, a figure that rose for the fourth year in a row.[157]