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Personal income in the United States

Personal income in the United States

Personal income is a measure utilized by the United States government, particularly the Department of Commerce, to determine the income of individuals. It is most often only applied to those who are either above the age of 15, 18, or 25 and are considered to be members of the labor force. The personal income figures of individuals in the United States are dependent on age, sex, race and educational characteristics. In 2005 roughly half of all those with graduate degrees were among the nation's top 15% of income earners. Among different demographics (sex, marital status, race, gender) for those over the age of 18, median personal income ranged from $3,317 for an unemployed, married Asian American femalecite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_067.htm|title=US Census Bureau, females, 18 or older, unemployed, personal income, 2005|accessdate=2006-12-08] to $55,935 for a full-time, year-round employed Asian American male.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_037.htm|title=US Census Bureau, male, 18 or older, employed full-time year round, 2005|accessdate=2006-12-08] According to the US Census Bureau, men tended to have higher income than women while Asians and Whites earned more than African Americans and Hispanics. The overall median personal income for all individuals over the age of 18 was $25,149cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new02_001.htm|title=US Census Bureau, 18+ age, 2005|accessdate=2006-12-08] ($32,140 for those age 25 or above) in the year 2005.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_001.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for all sexes, races in 2005|accessdate=2006-11-19] The overall median income for all 155 million persons over the age of 15 who worked with earnings in 2005 was $28,567.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new05_001.htm|title=US Census Bureau, median income for total labor force|accessdate=2006-12-08]

Income at a glance

Income distribution

Of those individuals who were older than 25 years of age, over 42% had incomes below $25,000 while the top 10% had incomes exceeding $75,000 a year. The distribution of income among individuals differs substantially from household incomes as 42% of all households had two income earners. As a result 15.8% of households have six figure incomes, even though only 5.63% of Americans had incomes exceeding $100,000. The following chart shows the income distribution among all 191,884,000 individuals aged 25 or higher as recorded by the United States Census Bureau. All numbers are given in 1000s.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new01_001.htm|title=US Census Bureau, distribution of personal income, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-09]

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2006cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new01_001.htm|title=US Census Bureau, distribution of personal income, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-09]

Over time - by Race & Sex

This chart is median income of 15 year olds or older, who have non-zero income. Taken from World Almanac (in turn sourced to US Census Bureau)

1950(1950 $'s, 2004 $'s)1960(1960 $'s, 2004 $'s)1970(1970 $'s, 2004 $)1980(1980 $'s, 2004 $'s)1990(1990 $'s, 2004 $'s)2000(2000 $'s, 2004 $'s)2004(2004 $'s)
OverallMale2 570(17 077)4 080(22 051)6 670(28 100) 12 530(27 206)20 293(28 439)28 343(31 089)30 513
Female953(6 333)1 261(6 815)2 237(9 424)4 920(10 683)10 070(14 112)16 063(17 619)17 629
White/European AmericanMale 2 709(18 001)4 296(23 219)7 011(29 536)13 328(28 939)21 170(29 668)29 797, (32 684)31 335
Female1 060(7 044)1 352(7 307)2 266(9 546)4 947(10 741)10 317(14 459)16 079(17 637)17 648
Black/African AmericanMale1 471(9 775)2 260(12 215)4 157(17 513)8 009(17 390)12 868(18 034)21 343(23 411)22 740
Female474(3 150)837(4 524)2 063(8 691)4 580(9 944)8 328(11 671)15 581(17 420)18 379
AsianMaleNANANANA19 394(27 179)30 833(33 820)32 419
FemaleNaNaNANA11 086(15 536)17 356(19 038)20 618

Race

Personal income varied significantly with an individual's racial characteristics with racial discrepancies having remained largely stagnant since 1996. Overall Asian Americans enjoyed higher median personal incomes than any other racial demographic.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_008.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Asian Americans, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] The only exception was among the holders of graduate degrees who consititute 8.9% of the population. Among those with a Master's, Professional or Doctorate degree those who identified as White had the highest median individual income. While Asian Americans had a median income roughly ten percent higher than that of Whites, this racial income gap was relatively small.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_008.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Asian Americans, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_003.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Whites, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] The largest racial gap was between Whites and African Americans with the former earning roughly 22% more than the latter. Thus one can observe a significant discrepancy with the median income of Asians and Whites and that of African Americans and Hispanics.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_006.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for African Americans, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] Those identifying as Hispanic or Latino who may have been of any race had the lowest overall median personal income, earning 28.51% less than Whitescite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_009.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Hispanic Americans, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_003.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Whites, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] and 35% less than Asian Americans.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_008.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Asian Americans, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] Overall the race gap between African Americans and Whites, which remains the largest, has remained roughly equal between both races over the past decade.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/031996/perinc/06_001.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income by race, age 25+, 1996|accessdate=2006-12-17] cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_003.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Whites, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17] Both races saw a gain in median income between 1996 and 2006, with the income growth among African Americans slightly outpacing that of Whites. In 1996 the median income for Whites was $5,957 (31%) higher for Whites than Blacks. In 2006 the gap in median incomes was nearly identical with the median income for Whites being $5,929 (22%) higher than that for African Americans. While the gap remains numerically unchanged, the percentage difference between the two races has decrease as a result of mutual increases in median personal income.cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/031996/perinc/06_001.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income by race, age 25+, 1996|accessdate=2006-12-17] cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_003.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income for Whites, age 25+, 2006|accessdate=2006-12-17]

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2006cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/new03_000.htm|title=US Census Bureau, Personal income, age 25+, 2006 statistics forum|accessdate=2006-12-17]

ee also

*Economy of the United States
*Adjusted Gross Income which includes AGI by year for the USA.

References

External links

* [http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032006/perinc/toc.htm Census Bureau Personal Income Statistics Forum]


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