Washington, Sep 14

US median household income saw the first annual increase in 2015 since the Great Recession, said the US Census Bureau on Tuesday.

The median household income reached $56,516 in 2015, 5.2 per cent higher than the level in 2014, Xinhua news agency quoted the bureau as saying.

\"This is the first annual increase in median household income since 2007, the year before the most recent recession,\" it said in a statement.

The data was 2.4 per cent lower than the peak level of the median household income of $57,909 in 1999, the bureau said.

The data shows the remarkable progress that American families have made as the recovery continues to strengthen, said Jason Furman, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under the White House.

The bureau also said the US poverty rate in 2015 fell to 13.5 per cent, 1.2 percentage point lower from 2014 and the people in poverty reduced to 43.1 million, 3.5 million lower than 2014.

US househould income rises for first time since recession