Income and savings: Personal income edged up $30 billion, or 0.2%, last month, following a revised 0.1% decline in June, the Commerce Department said.
A consensus of economists polled by Briefing.com expected personal income to climb 0.2% in July.
Monday's report also showed consumers were saving less in July. Personal savings as a percentage of disposable income rose 5.9%, down from last month's downwardly revised 6.2% in June.
June 2010's savings rate was the highest since June 2009, when the reading came in at 6.7%.
"Even though the savings rate edged down over the month, it's still very high," Khan said.
Paul Dales, U.S. economist at Capital Economics, agreed the savings rate "remains high by the standards of the last 20 years."
Households are set on paying down their debt, which will help the economy in the medium term, Dales wrote in a research note. But that benefit will take time, and it will hurt near-term growth.
"Overall, the U.S. economy cannot rely on households to lift it out of its current funk," he said.
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