A new income study by SmartAsset examining the one-year change in income for households in the country's biggest cities has determined Austin's median income fell from 2023 to 2024, dropping by 1.17 percent.

Last year, Austin households made $90,430 in median annual income, compared to $91,501 in 2023.

SmartAsset's new report, "U.S. Cities With the Highest Income Growth," also tracked the changes in senior and family household income across the 50 most populated U.S. cities from 2023 to 2024. Data was sourced from the past two editions of the U.S. Census Bureau's 1-Year American Community Survey.

Tampa, Florida, had the highest growth in its residents' household income nationwide, at 15.46 percent. Tampa households earned a median $72,851 in annual income in 2023, and that figure increased to $84,114 in 2024.

Austin's median household income is at least faring better than the national median. The report said the national median household income grew 1.3 percent to $83,730 in 2024. That's $6,700 lower than what the median Austin household made last year.

"This means many households did not keep pace with the roughly 3 percent inflation rate during the same time period, but that was not true everywhere," the report's author wrote. "Especially in large cities where residents often pay a premium for convenience, infrastructure and amenities, the change in household income swung vastly, in some cases reaching double-digit growth, or even negative growth."

Austin families saw their median annual income decrease 10.68 percent year-over-year to $125,672 in 2024. That's still enough money to be labeled "middle class" in 2025, but it's a far cry from the salary needed to make a comfortable living for a family of four.

The report noted that Austin's elderly population may especially feel the sting after their median senior household income fell 5.15 percent during the one-year period. Austin seniors earned $71,308 in median annual income last year, or $3,875 less than what they earned in 2023.

"Changes in incomes across a city can lead to different dynamics on local demand for businesses, job markets, and even have implications for how new tax legislation will affect residents," the report said.