Thursday, September 4, 2025

Census income tally finds Trump 1.0 economy outpaced Biden’s — and it wasn’t close

Census income tally finds Trump 1.0 economy outpaced Biden’s — and it wasn’t close

One of the bitter fruits of President Joe Biden’s single term in office is this: An administration obsessed with policies designed to reduce income inequality actually widened the gap between rich and poor.

That’s the conclusion from Unleash Prosperity’s advance analysis of Census Bureau data on household incomes through the end of 2024.  

These Census Bureau income numbers include business income, investment income, dividends, wages, salaries and most cash government welfare benefits, including Social Security.    

Our chart (below) shows what happened with middle-class incomes over the 48 months of President Donald Trump’s first term (2017-21), as compared to the subsequent Biden term (2021-25). All the numbers in our analysis are adjusted for inflation.

Line graph comparing US household income changes under Trump and Biden presidencies.

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