February 1, 2025

Based upon the US government’s advance estimate of Q4 and full year 2024 US economic activity, our initial estimate of the 2024 fully year Staying Even Index is 4.3%. This represents a slow down from the 4.8% reported after Q3, due both to a slowing economy and revisions in reported economic and population growth in prior periods

The 4.3% Staying Even Index (SEI) reading is based upon reported nominal GDP growth of 5.0% and estimated annual population growth of 0.8% during the period.

These projections suggest that individuals whose 2024 total income from all sources (after tax wages and other income) grew by more than 4.3% from 2023 expanded their adjusted share of the U.S. economy, and those whose total income grew by less than this fell behind compared to the prior year. 2024 average inflation CPI-U was 2.9%, showing yet again that raises that just keep up with inflation are not sufficient to stay even in the growing US economy.

2024 SEI performance compares to an revised 2023 SEI reading of 5.7%, the slowdown in SEI was due to a slowdown in nominal GDP growth, primarily due to a moderation in inflation.

StayingEven.com will publish updates to these figures as GDP and population estimates are revised. We are dedicated to helping individuals understand what income growth is required to keep up in the U.S. Economy.

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To find out whether you have gotten ahead, try our Staying Even Calculator, and to learn more about the Index, visit us at StayingEven.com. You can also follow us @stayingeven on Twitter.