(NewsNation) — The median annual earnings for workers in the United States in 2022 was nearly 7% less than the year before when adjusting for inflation, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The data, reported in the USAFacts’ America in Facts 2023, shows the median annual wage in 2022 was $46,367, compared to $49,748 in 2021.
Workers in Mississippi, Arkansas and West Virginia earned the lowest annual median wages in the country at less than $38,000.
Inflation has been burning a hole in Americans’ wallets for the better part of the past two years. It reached a peak last June when it hit 9.1%, the highest in four decades.
Despite the wage reductions and higher prices, fewer Americans are living in poverty.
Census Bureau data reported by USAFacts shows as of 2022, 11.5% of Americans — roughly 38 million people — are impoverished, 3.6 percentage points lower than 2010.
Still, families are finding it difficult to make ends meet.
In a July 2023 Census Bureau survey, nearly four in 10 Americans said they found it difficult to pay for household items within the last seven days.