Where you live might be affecting whether you're seeing more or less take-home pay
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Groceries are up. Rents are up. So are cars. But what about income?
As Americans grapple with lingering inflation and an increasingly unaffordable reality, they're also dealing with stagnating wages. In 2024, the median household income was $83,730, just a 1.3% increase year-over-year. That didn't keep pace with 3% inflation.
But when you disaggregate the data, the story becomes more complicated. Some regions are seeing big jumps in income, while others are seeing take-home pay fall.
Fintech firm SmartAsset tried to get to the bottom of it, ranking America's 50 largest cities by their one-year change in median household incomes between 2023 and 2024.
Below, we've compiled a list of the 5 cities that saw the biggest salary increases and the five that saw the sharpest decreases.

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Louisville, Kentucky saw a 9.37% increase in household income in 2024.

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Fresno, California saw a 10.19% increase in household income in 2024.

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San Francisco, California saw a 10.31% increase in household income in 2024.

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Long Beach, California saw a 11.90% increase in household income in 2024.

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Tampa, Florida saw a 15.46% increase in household income in 2024.

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Raleigh, North Carolina saw a 1.45% decrease in household income in 2024.

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Seattle, Washington saw a 1.54% decrease in household income in 2024.

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Denver, Colorado saw a 1.76% decrease in household income in 2024.

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Miami, Florida saw a 3.35% decrease in household income in 2024.

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Minneapolis, Minnesota saw a 4.04% decrease in household income in 2024.