Rubbish Check
ABC News Business · September 15, 2026
source“US household income top pre-pandemic levels for the 1st time as Americans struggle with inflation”
R3/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates ABC News's claim that "household income tops pre-pandemic levels" a 3/10 because the $87,460 median income figure and its 2.5% six-year gain are accurate Census Bureau data, and the headline's "struggle with inflation" framing is directly supported by the article's own comparison to the much faster 19% income growth from 2013 to 2019.
The Verdict
Lightly altered. The headline compresses a real, sourced Census finding into a punchy contrast, but it does so honestly: the body immediately backs up the "struggle" framing with the stark 19% versus 2.5% comparison. The only iteration away from the base fact is packing both the win and the gloom into one headline, which risks readers assuming a bigger real-terms gain than the Census data shows.
What actually happened
The Census Bureau reported that the median U.S. household income, adjusted for inflation, rose to an all-time high of $87,460 in 2025, a figure independently confirmed by a second outlet. The article frames this as a milestone that also exposes six years of weak real income growth compared with the pre-pandemic decade.
Key facts
- Median household income rose 2.6% in 2025 to $87,460, a record high, surpassing 2019's $85,320, confirmed independently as an all-time high of $87,460 in 2025, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday… a 2.6% increase from the year before.
- Household income has risen only 2.5% cumulatively since 2019, versus a 19% jump from 2013 to 2019, per the article's own citation of Census data.
- Women's paychecks rose 3.2% last year while men's declined slightly; the gender wage gap narrowed to women earning nearly 84 cents per male dollar, up from under 81 cents in 2024.
What to watch for
Watch whether the 2.5% six-year gain gets revised as more 2025 data comes in, and whether next year's report shows the gender wage gap narrowing continuing or reversing given men's income decline this cycle. Also watch how other outlets handle the "record high" framing without the slow-growth context ABC included.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
