Personal income in the United States

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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 female^[2] to $55,935 for a full-time, year-round employed Asian American male.^[3] 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 $25,149^[4] ($32,140 for those age 25 or above) in the year 2005.^[5] If all races, employment status and other demographic characteristics are disregarded the overall median income for all 233 million persons over the age of 15 was $28,567.^[6]

Contents 1 Income at a glance 2 Income distribution 3 Race 4 See also 4.1 US related articles 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Income at a glance

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2006

[edit] Income distribution

Of those individuals who were older than 25 years of age, over 42% have incomes below $25,000 while the top 10% had incomes exceeding $75,000 a year. The distribution of income among individuals differes substantially from household incomes as 42% of all households has two income earners. As a result 15.8% of households has 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.^[7]

Income range	Number of households (in thousands)	Percent	Cumulative percentages
Under $2,500	8,635	4.50	less than $25k 42.72%	less than $50k 70.95%	less than $100k 94.37%
$2,500 to $4,999	4,696	2.45
$5,000 to $7,499	9,038	4.71
$7,500 to $9,999	8,929	4.65
$10,000 to $12,499	10,334	5.38
$12,500 to $14,999	8,347	4.35
$15,000 to $17,499	9,365	4.88
$17,500 to $19,999	7,129	3.71
$20,000 to $22,499	9,275	4.83
$22,500 to $24,999	6,255	3.26
$25,000 to $50,000
$25,000 to $27,499	8,245	4.30	$25k-$50k 28.23%
$27,500 to $29,999	4,809	2.50
$30,000 to $32,499	8,884	4.63
$32,500 to $34,999	4,035	2.10
$35,000 to $37,499	7,133	3.72
$37,500 to $39,999	3,795	1.98
$40,000 to $42,499	6,977	3.64
$42,500 to $44,999	2,921	1.52
$45,000 to $47,499	4,572	2.38
$47,500 to $49,999	2,801	1.46
$50,000 to $75,000
$50,000 to $52,499	5,435	2.83	$50k-$75k 12.28%	$50k-$100k 16.94%
$52,500 to $54,999	1,952	1.01
$55,000 to $57,499	2,999	1.56
$57,500 to $59,999	1,500	0.78
$60,000 to $62,499	3,690	1.92
$62,500 to $64,999	1,368	0.71
$65,000 to $67,499	2,270	1.18
$67,500 to $69,999	1,168	0.61
$70,000 to $72,499	2,311	1.20
$72,500 to $74,999	928	0.48
$75,000 to $100,000
$75,000 to $77,499	1,871	0.97	$75k-$100k 4.66%
$77,500 to $79,999	769	0.40
$80,000 to $82,499	1,653	0.86
$82,500 to $84,999	590	0.31
$85,000 to $87,499	1,022	0.53
$87,500 to $89,999	506	0.26
$90,000 to $92,499	1,042	0.54
$92,500 to $94,999	447	0.24
$95,000 to $97,499	679	0.35
$97,500 to $99,999	377	0.20
$100,000 or more	10,813	5.63

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2006^[7]

[edit] Race

Personal income varied siginificantly 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.^[10] 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.^[10][11] 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 significan discrepancy with the median income of Asians and Whites and that of African Americans and Hispanics.^[12] 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 Whites^[13][11] and 35% less than Asian Americans.^[10] Overall the race gap between African Americans and Whites, which remains the largest, has remained roughly equal between both races over the past decade.^[14][11] 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.^[14][11]

Race		Overall Median	High School	Some College	College Graduate	Bachelor's Degree	Master's Degree	Doctorate Degree
Total population	All, age 25+	32,140	26,505	31,054	49,303	43,143	52,390	70,853
	Full-time workers, age 25-64	39,509	31,610	37,150	56,027	50,959	61,324	79,292
White alone	All, age 25+	33,030	27,311	31,564	49,972	43,833	52,318	85,658
	Full-time workers, age 25-64	40,422	32,427	38,481	56,903	51,543	61,441	77,906
Asian alone	All, age 25+	36,152	25,285	29,982	51,481	42,466	61,452	69,653
	Full-time workers, age 25-64	42,109	27,041	33,120	60,532	51,040	71,316	91,430
African American	All, age 25+	27,101	22,379	27,648	44,534	41,572	48,266	61,894
	Full-time workers, age 25-64	32,021	26,230	32,392	47,758	45,505	52,858	N/A
Hispanic or Latino	All, age 25+	23,613	22,941	28,698	41,596	37,819	50,901	67,274
	Full-time workers, age 25-64	27,266	26,461	33,120	46,594	41,831	53,880	N/A

SOURCE: US Census Bureau, 2006^[9]

[edit] See also

• Household income in the United States
• Wealth in the United States
• Social structure of the United States
• Educational attainment in the United States
• Affluence in the United States

[edit] US related articles

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WikiProject United States

Income in the United States
Household income in the United States Personal income in the United States Affluence in the United States
Income by: State (localities by state) County (highest | lowest) Metropolitan area Place Urban Areas ZCTAs (Zip Codes)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Census Bureau Personal Income Statistics Forum