Household income in the United States

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The Household income in the United States is a measure of current private income commonly used by the United States government and private institutions. To measure the income of a household, the before tax income of all residents over the age of 15 is added together. Most of this is wages and salaries (before withholding and other taxes), but many other forms of income, such as unemployment insurance, disability, child support, etc., are included as well. The people in the household do not have to be related to the householder for their income to be considered part of the household's income.^[1] Household income is among the most widely accepted measures as households tend to share a common economic fate. The size of a household which is commonly not considered may off-set gains in household income.^[2]

In 2005, the median annual household income according to the US Census Bureau was $46,326,^[3] similar to that of Canada which was roughly $41,510 (USD) in the year 2000.^[4] The median income per household member (including all working and non-working members above the age of 14) in the year 2003 was $23,535.^[5] In the year 2005, there were about 113,146,000 households in the United States. 17.23% of all households had annual incomes more than $100,000.^[6] 12.7% fell below the federal poverty threshold.^[7] The bottom 20% earned less than $19,178.^[8] The income distribution tends to tilt towards the top with the top 6.37% earning roughly one third of all income. Those with upper-middle incomes also controlled a large, though declining, share of the total earned income.^[2][9] Households in the top 20%, 77% of which had two income earners, had incomes exceeding $91,705. Households in the mid 20%, with a mean of one income earner per household had incomes between $36,000 and 57,657.^[8]

The 2005 economic survey also found that households in the top 40%, those with an annual household income exceeding $55,331, had a median of two income earners while those in the lower quintiles (2nd and middle quintile) had median of only one income earner per household. Due to high unemployment among those in the lowest quintile the median number of income earners for this particular group was zero.^[10] Overall the United States followed the trend of other developed nations with a relatively large population of relatively rich households outnumbering the poor. There was large and quite powerful section of households with moderately high middle class incomes^[9] and an even larger number of households with moderately low incomes.^[6] While the median household income has increased 44% since 1990 it has decreased very slightly when considering inflation. In 1990, the median household income was $30,056; $44,603 in 2003 dollars. While personal income has not changed much over the past few decades, household income has risen because more households have two or more income earners. Between 1999 and 2004 household income showed only a slight increase since 2004.^[11][12]

1. ↑ "Definition of household income". Archived from the original on 2006-04-21. Retrieved 2006-08-10.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Gilbert, Dennis (1998). The American Class Strucutre. New York: Wadsworth Publishing. 0-534-50520-1.
3. ↑ "US Census Bureau news release in regards to median income". Retrieved 2006-06-29.
4. ↑ "Canada Census, Median Household income". Archived from the original on 2007-01-02. Retrieved 2006-08-10.
5. ↑ "US Census Bureau median income per household member". Archived from the original on 2006-05-28. Retrieved 2006-07-07.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} "US Census 2005 Economic Survey, income data". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2006-06-29.
7. ↑ "US Census Bureau press release regarding poverty". Retrieved 2006-06-29.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} "US Census Bureau, income quintiles, 2006". Archived from the original on 2007-01-04. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} "USAToday, the definition of middle class income". USA Today. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
10. ↑ "US Census 2005 Economic Survey, income data". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2006-06-29. (Original source reports "median" as "mean".)
11. ↑ "US Census Bureau, Median household income 1990". Retrieved 2006-08-10.
12. ↑ "CPI inflation calculator, 1990 USD to 2003 USD". Retrieved 2006-08-10.