Money, in brief

The US Census Bureau released its yearly report on income and poverty on Tuesday 15 September, covering 2025. [1][2]

The median household, the one exactly in the middle when all households are ranked from poorest to richest, had an income of $87,460. [1][3]

After allowing for rising prices, that is 2.6% more than in 2024. [3] It is the highest since the records began in 1967. [5]

The gains were uneven. Families in the top tenth by income gained 1.7%, while the bottom tenth saw little change. [2]

The Wall Street Journal says the record was driven by households with higher incomes. [4]

Black families had the biggest rise, 4.8%. Their median income of $59,980 is still far below that of white families, $91,930, and Asian families, $126,300. [2]

More people moved into full-time work: 1.3 million more men and 800,000 more women. [3]

Median pay for men working full time fell by $690. For women working full time it rose by $1,900. [3]

The official poverty rate fell to 10.2% from 10.7%. That is 34.5 million people below the line, down from 36 million. [2]

A second, fuller measure adds benefits such as food aid and takes off taxes and medical bills. It put poverty at 13.1%, about the same as in 2024. [1][2]

Tax credits for working families and children kept 6.1 million people out of poverty in 2025. Food aid, called SNAP, lifted 3.1 million out. [1]

On the fuller measure, medical bills pushed 7.7 million people into poverty. [1]

On that fuller measure, poverty among Americans aged 65 and over rose to 15.4%, from 15.1% in 2024 and 14.0% in 2023. [6]

The National Council on Aging says the average Social Security payment is a little over $2,000 a month. Many older people get much less and have no other income. [6]

The report looks back at 2025, before most of the cuts to Medicaid, the health cover for people on low incomes, and to food aid took effect. [1][2]

Why it matters. The cuts to food aid and Medicaid are expected to show more clearly in the reports covering 2026 and later. The fuller measure is the one to watch, because it includes those benefits. [1][2]

AARP, a US group for people over 50, forecast on 11 September that Social Security payments would rise 3.6% in January 2027. [9] Another estimate puts it at about 3.4%. [10] The rise follows a price index for working households, averaged over July, August and September. [9] This year's rise was 2.8%, and the average over 20 years is 2.6%. [11][12] The Senior Citizens League, another group for older people, had forecast 2.8% in March and 3.9% in April. [13] The official figure comes on 14 October. [11]

Why it matters. The average retirement payment was $2,085 a month in July, so 3.6% would add about $75. [9] A Medicare premium rise of $6.60 is taken out of the same payment, so the rise left after the premium is nearer 3.28%. [9]

The Bank of England kept its main interest rate at 3.75% on 17 September, by six votes to three. [15] The three wanted a rise to 4%. [15] Prices in Britain rose 3.1% in the year to August, and the Bank expects them to rise further as war in the Middle East keeps oil and gas dear. [15] The Bank had cut its rate from 5.25% in August 2024 to 3.75% in December 2025. [16]

Why it matters. A market rate that lenders watch for five-year fixed mortgages rose above 4.52% in the first week of September, its highest since October 2023, which is expected to push up fixed-rate deals. [17] The Bank also said it will sell off the rest of the UK government bonds it bought, by the end of 2034. [15]

Two researchers at Brookings, a Washington research group, published a study on 14 September covering US poverty from 1967 to 2023. [14] The share of people in poverty fell by a quarter to a half, depending on the measure used. [14] But deep poverty, living on less than half the poverty line, improved much less. [14] How far the poorest fell below the line improved very little. [14]

Why it matters. The study says adults aged 18 to 64 with little or no work and no children did worst, because cash help for them has been cut since the late 1980s. [14] It ends in 2023, and the authors expect the 2025 cuts to raise deep poverty. [14]

From 1 October, Australian shops can no longer add a fee for paying by debit, prepaid or credit card on eftpos, Mastercard or Visa. [19] The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country's central bank, expects this to save shoppers about A$1.6 billion a year. [19] It is also cutting the fee banks take from each credit card payment, from 0.8% to 0.3%. [19] Only 16% of shops added card fees in 2024-25, but that share had doubled since 2022. [19]

Why it matters. The Reserve Bank of Australia expects some shops to put up their menu prices slightly to cover card costs, which would cost people paying in cash a little more. [19] Banks say they may raise card fees or shorten interest-free periods to make up about A$660 million a year. [19]

The US House of Representatives passed a bill on 16 September, with support from both parties, about the cost of electricity for data centres. [18] Data centres are huge buildings full of computers that run AI, and they use a lot of power. [18] The bill asks state regulators to consider making data centres pay for any extra costs they add to the grid. [18] It still needs the US Senate and President Trump. [18]

Why it matters. People in both parties are worried about rising electricity bills, and data centres have become an issue before November's elections. [18] But Congress cannot force state regulators, who set household electricity rates, to follow the rule. [18]

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, the FCA, stopped taking views on 18 September on changes to its Consumer Duty. [22] The Duty, in force since 2023, requires banks, insurers and other financial firms to deliver good outcomes for ordinary customers. [22] The FCA says it has been applied more widely than intended, especially where firms deal with each other and where a product passes through several firms. [22] It expects to make new rules early in 2027. [22]

Why it matters. Earlier this year the FCA said it would lean on the Duty rather than write many detailed rules. [23] If the FCA narrows the Duty, customers of the firms left outside it lose the protection it gives. [22][23]

The FCA published guidance on how Britain's new law for crypto firms applies to them. [20] Firms can apply for permission from 30 September 2026, and the rules take full effect on 25 October 2027. [20] The rules cover firms that issue stablecoins, which are digital tokens meant to keep the value of a currency like the pound. [20] They also cover trading platforms and firms that hold crypto for customers. [20]

Why it matters. Earlier this year the FCA set out how its customer rules, compensation and the safekeeping of customers' coins would apply to crypto firms. [21] It is the first step before the FCA's customer rules reach crypto firms in October 2027. [20][21]

Opportunity Zones, created by a US tax law in 2017, let investors put off or avoid tax on gains from selling assets. [24] To qualify, the gains must be reinvested in poorer areas chosen by state governors. [24] Brookings studied 7,174 of the 7,826 zones from 2018 to 2025, using records of new building. [24] It found the break can speed up investment in struggling areas, mostly in property, but results varied from state to state. [24]

Why it matters. A 2025 law made a changed version of the tax break permanent, with a new round of zones chosen in 2026. [24] The study's data counts buildings but does not show their cost or size. [24]