Median Family Income - an annual income figure for which there are as many families with incomes below that level as there are above that level.
What do you think is the Median Family Income in the US? Don't look it up.;just give your opinion based on what you know or feel. At what income point are there just as many above that line as below? (I admit to being surprised at the answer.) **************************************************** 02-23-06, 06:33 PM juanruiz $52,000.
02-23-06, 06:47 PM frankvan $72,000.00 ??
02-23-06, 06:50 PM Georgia85 Guess that depends on how many in the family are bringing in an income. I'd guess a median income for a 2 income household would be $45,000.
02-23-06, 07:07 PM honilov $50,000
02-24-06, 07:37 AM frankvan I guess it would also depend on what constitutes a "family". Does it include people just 'shacking up", households, married with or without children, etc.?? Is this another case of: Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics ?? 02-24-06, 07:39 AM VelvetVoice $40,000. I just got a notice from the Girl Scout Council that Harvard is sponsoring a scholarship for low-income students.
Actually, I think it's lower now that I think of it. My guess is $28,000.
02-24-06, 08:01 AM methos I roughly remember it from several years ago, but I don't know exactly how many. Based on that number, I'll guess it's in the low $40,000s now.
02-24-06, 09:43 AM Sherasi For a two income family.. I'd say $38-$40,000 a year
02-24-06, 09:47 AM Koz $70,000
02-24-06, 08:58 PM coldfuse I have to maintain that data (actually, median "household" income) for my region of the state, which is just under $45,000. I'd guess the national is 20% above that, so:
$54,000?
02-24-06, 09:32 PM methos I got curious, so I did a search - one particular number seems to have been in the news lately, the one based on the Federal Reserve's survey of consumer finances, which comes out every three years. I won't ruin DG's poll by giving away the answer (assuming that's the source he's using), but these quotes from the report may (or may not) answer some of the methodology questions people seem to have:
The majority of statistics included in this article are related to characteristics of ‘‘families.’’ As used here, this term is more comparable to the U.S. Bureau of the Census definition of ‘‘households’’ than to its use of ‘‘families,’’ which excludes the possibility of one-person families. The appendix provides full definitions of ‘‘family’’ for the SCF and the associated family ‘‘head.’’
And in the appendix:
Definition of ‘‘Family’’ in the SCF The definition of ‘‘family’’ used throughout this article differs from that typically used in other government studies. In the SCF, a household unit is divided into a ‘‘primary economic unit’’ (PEU)—the family—and everyone else in the household. The PEU is intended to be the economically dominant single individual or couple (whether married or living together as partners) and all other persons in the household who are financially interdependent with that economically dominant person or couple.
02-25-06, 12:00 PM Rakuchild I'm going to make my guess based on a family with two incomes and say about $50,000 a year.
For a family with one income I'd guess about $30,000.
It doesn't really matter how many people are in the family, it just matters how many are working, correct?
02-25-06, 12:47 PM DorianGreyed The only thing that matters is total income. It doesn't matter how many contribute to that total.
02-26-06, 03:48 PM frankvan Well, are we ever going to get the "right" figure, DG ??
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Posts: 16956 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
Those of you whose family takes in more than that are in the wealthier half of the US population. If those of you who make a bit more than that feel that you are just barely making it, think about those who make far less than that median figure. How do they get by? I know quite a few families that live on half that amount, and a few single people who live on a fourth of that amount (or less). Another factor to remember is that the lower half of all families are the most likely to not have any portion of their health insurance paid for through work, if they even have health insurance. That article quotes Phillip L. Swagel, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative research group in Washington: "It looks like the gains from the recovery haven't really filtered down. The gains have gone to owners of capital and not to workers."
Think about what that median figure means. A newly married couple, both recent graduates of college, both starting their first year of teaching, start off in the wealthier 50% of all US families. Does that change anyone's perception of just how poor the poor in the US really are? The next time you hear someone speak of the middle class, ask yourself what the speaker really means in dollars. I have yet to hear anyone speak of a middle class whose family income less than $45,000 a year, yet that is exactly where our middle class is centered. ******************************************************* 02-26-06, 06:44 PM methos I guess DG wasn't thinking of the Federal Reserve's number, which was released February 21. The results are similar, though: the survey of consumer finances found a $43,200 median family income for 2004. The Fed did find a small gain in post-inflation median income since 2001, but a decrease in average family income. It also found that, although both median and average family net worth increased slightly, the net worth of the bottom 25% fell while the top 10% rose.
US Census has some breakdowns by state and family size.
Here are some additional census data which (if extended a year into the future) are consistent with the numbers in DG's article, though not necessarily supportive of its conclusions.
Note that some are household numbers while others are family numbers.
02-28-06, 08:16 AM methos
quote: Originally posted by coldfuse: You'd think the agencies would get their numbers straight! ... Note that some are household numbers while others are family numbers.
The numbers seem pretty consistent to me. The fed says that their definition of family "s more comparable to the U.S. Bureau of the Census definition of ‘households’ than to its use of ‘families,’" and the census families number is only about 2% different from the Fed household number. Both are estimates, and a 2% range seems reasonable to me.
The HUD number should be expected to be different because it is using the census definition of family, while the others are using the census definition of household, or something close to it.
Census definitions:
Household A household consists of all the people who occupy a housing unit. A house, an apartment or other group of rooms, or a single room, is regarded as a housing unit when it is occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters; that is, when the occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure and there is direct access from the outside or through a common hall.
A household includes the related family members and all the unrelated people, if any, such as lodgers, foster children, wards, or employees who share the housing unit. A person living alone in a housing unit, or a group of unrelated people sharing a housing unit such as partners or roomers, is also counted as a household. The count of households excludes group quarters. There are two major categories of households, "family" and "nonfamily".
Family A family is a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family. Beginning with the 1980 Current Population Survey, unrelated subfamilies (referred to in the past as secondary families) are no longer included in the count of families, nor are the members of unrelated subfamilies included in the count of family members. The number of families is equal to the number of family households, however, the count of family members differs from the count of family household members because family household members include any non-relatives living in the household.
03-01-06, 09:26 PM coldfuse
quote: Originally posted by methos: The numbers seem pretty consistent to me.
I was referring more to the disparity between $56,500 and $43,200.
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Posts: 16956 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
