<P> The overall median income for all 155 million persons over the age of 15 who worked with earnings in 2005 was $28,567 . As a reference point, the minimum wage rate in 2009 was $7.25 per hour or $15,080 for the 2080 hours in a typical work year . The minimum wage is a little more than the poverty level for a single person unit and about 50% of the poverty level for a family of four . </P> <P> An August 2017 survey by CareerBuilder found that 8 out of 10 U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck . CareerBuilder spokesman Mike Erwin blamed "stagnant wages and the rising cost of everything from education to many consumer goods". According to a survey by the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on the financial well - being of U.S. citizens, roughly half have trouble paying bills, and more than one - third have faced hardships such as not being able to afford a place to live, running out of food, or not having enough money to pay for medical care . </P> <P> The distribution of household incomes in the United States has become more unequal during the post-2008 economic recovery, a first for the US but in line with the trend over the last ten economic recoveries since 1949 . Income inequality in the United States has grown from 2005 to 2012 in more than 2 out of 3 metropolitan areas . Median household wealth fell 35% in the US, from $106,591 to $68,839 between 2005 and 2011 . </P> <P> The gap in income between rich and poor is greater in the United States than in any other developed country . Starting in the 1980s relative poverty rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations, though analyses using a common data set for comparisons tend to find that the U.S. has a lower absolute poverty rate by market income than most other wealthy nations . Extreme poverty in the United States, meaning households living on less than $2 per day before government benefits, doubled from 1996 levels to 1.5 million households in 2011, including 2.8 million children . In 2013, child poverty reached record high levels, with 16.7 million children living in food insecure households, about 35% more than 2007 levels . As of 2015, 44 percent of children in the United States live with low - income families . </P>

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