Census: Income in US-Born Households Down; Up in Foreign-Born

The median income for heads of households born in the United States fell 2.3 percent between 2013 and last year, while those of foreign-born heads rose 4.3 percent, according to new Census Bureau data.

According to the report — "Income and Poverty in the United States: 2014" — released on Wednesday, the income for the head of household born in the U.S. totaled $54,678 last year, down $1,311 from $55,989 the year before.

That compared with the $49,592 earned by foreign-born heads of household last year, according to the data. That was $2,031 higher than the $47,561 earned in 2013.

Meanwhile, the highest median income was posted by naturalized citizens last year, at $59,261, followed by  native-born households and then households headed by those not born in the United States, according to the data.

Overall, median household income in the United States fell to $53,657 last year, from $54,462 the year before. Median income has fallen 6.5 percent since before the recession in 2007, the report noted.

The report also noted that the poverty rate in the United States stood at 14.8 percent last year, up from 14.5 percent the previous year. In 2012, the rate was 15 percent in 2012.

The 2013 dip was the first decline in the nation's poverty rate since 2006, according to the Census Bureau.

In other words, 46.7 million people in the U.S. now live in poverty, according to the report. That includes 14.2 percent of native-born Americans and 18.5 percent of those who are foreign-born.

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