All Households
A household consists of a person or persons who occupy the same housing unit and may have just one person (the householder who owns or rents the house). It may also consist of related family members (family household) or unrelated people (nonfamily household).
The two-year-average median income of U.S. households from 2003–04, including money income before taxes but excluding the value of such noncash benefits as food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, public housing, and employer-provided benefits, was $44,436, down from $44,514 in the 2002–03 period. This median income (meaning half of such households earned more and half earned less) varied substantially between racial and ethnic groups. The median income of non-Hispanic white households was $49,019, considerably higher than that of Hispanic ($34,062), Native American and Alaska Native ($32,510), or African-American ($30,288) households in the 2003–04 period. However, non-Hispanic white income was significantly less than the median household income of Asian-Americans ($57,357) or Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders ($54,378). (See Table 5.1.)
Married-Couple Households
In 2004 there were 58.1 million married-couple households, representing 75.4% of all family households. Married couples tend to have a higher household income than single householders do. In 2004 married-couple households had a median income of $63,813. The median income for female-headed households with no husband present was substantially lower, at $29,826. The median income for male-headed households with no wife present was also lower than the married-couple median but substantially higher than the female-headed households, at $44,923. (See Table 5.2.)
Per Capita Income
Per capita income is figured by dividing the total (aggregate or composite) national income by the total population. This means that if all the nation's earnings were divided equally among every man, woman, and child, each person would receive this amount. The per capita figure is often used to compare the wealth of countries or groups within countries. In 2004 the per capita income for non-Hispanic whites was $27,414, which was higher than the per capita income of Asian-Americans ($26,217), African-Americans ($16,035), or Hispanics ($14,106). In fact, the per capita income for non-Hispanic whites was almost twice that of Hispanics. (See Table 5.2.)
Minority Incomes
HISPANIC INCOME
While Table 5.1 shows that Hispanic households earned an average median income of $34,062 in the 2003–04 period, down from $34,328 from 2002–03, the financial situation among Hispanic subgroups tends to vary. In 2001 only 26.3% of Hispanics working full time, year round earned $35,000 or more, compared with 53.8% of non-Hispanic whites. Among the Hispanic subgroups, however, the yearly earnings outlook was best for Puerto Ricans and Cubans. More than a third of Puerto Ricans (34.8%) and Cubans (34.3%) earned $35,000 or more in 2001—still substantially fewer than non-Hispanic whites—while only 28%
TABLE 5.1 Income of households by race and Hispanic origin using 2- and 3-year-average medians, 2002–04
| TABLE 5.1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income of households by race and Hispanic origin using 2- and 3-year-average medians, 2002–04 | |||||
| [Income in 2004 dollars] | |||||
| Racea and Hispanic origin | 3-year averageb 2002–2004 (dollars) | 2-year averagec (dollars) | Change in real median income (2003–2004 average less 2002–2003 average) | ||
| 2003–2004 | 2002–2003 | ||||
| Median income | Median income | Median income | Dollars | Percentage change | |
| aFederal surveys now give respondents the option of reporting more than one race. Therefore, two basic ways of defining a race group are possible. A group such as Asian may be defined as those who reported Asian and no other race (the race-alone or single-race concept) or as those who reported Asian regardless of whether they also reported another race (the race-alone-or-in-combination concept). This table shows data using the first approach (race alone). The use of the single-race population does not imply that it is the preferred method of presenting or analyzing data. | |||||
| bThe 3-year-average median is the sum of three inflation-adjusted single-year medians divided by 3. | |||||
| cThe 2-year-average median is the sum of two inflation-adjusted single-year medians divided by 2. | |||||
| SOURCE: Carmen DeNavas-Walt, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Cheryl Hill Lee, "Table 2. Income of Households by Race and Hispanic Origin Using 2- and 3-Year-Average Medians: 2002 to 2004," in Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004, Current Population Reports P60-229, U.S. Census Bureau, August 2005, http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf (accessed January 23, 2006) | |||||
| All races | 44,473 | 44,436 | 44,514 | −79 | −0.2 |
| White | 46,971 | 46,777 | 47,108 | −331 | −0.7 |
| White, not Hispanic | 49,101 | 49,019 | 49,162 | −143 | −0.3 |
| Black | 30,355 | 30,288 | 30,465 | −177 | −0.6 |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 33,132 | 32,510 | 33,749 | −1,239 | −3.7 |
| Asian | 56,664 | 57,357 | 56,237 | 1,120 | 2.0 |
| Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander | 51,687 | 54,378 | 52,311 | 2,068 | 4.0 |
| Hispanic origin (any race) | 34,299 | 34,062 | 34,328 | −265 | −0.8 |
AFRICAN-AMERICAN INCOME
In part because of their low marriage rates, African-Americans are at a disadvantage. Among those over age fifteen, African-Americans are far more likely than whites, Hispanics, or Asians and Pacific Islanders to have never married. In 2003, 11.8 million (43.6%) African-Americans had never been married, compared with 39 million (24.6%) whites, 9.9 million (35.3%) Hispanics, and 3.2 million (32.5%) Asians and Pacific Islanders. (See Table 2.1 in Chapter 2.) As shown earlier, households headed by an unmarried adult have substantially lower incomes than do married-couple households.
However, the differences in marriage rates do not explain the entire discrepancy between household incomes of non-Hispanic whites and African-Americans. Married-couple African-American households have lower incomes than married-couple non-Hispanic white households; African-American female- and male-headed households also have lower incomes than comparable non-Hispanic white households. In 2001, 18.8% of African-American married-couple households had incomes of less than $25,000 per year, compared with only 11.8% of non-Hispanic white married-couple households. Only 26.9% of African-American married-couple households had incomes of $75,000 and over, while 40.1% of non-Hispanic white married-couple households had incomes that high. And while the average income of all households headed by a female householder was substantially lower than the average income of married-couple households, fully 58.1% of households headed by single African-American women had incomes of less than $25,000 per year in 2001, compared with 41.1% of households headed by single, non-Hispanic white women. (See Figure 5.2.)
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER INCOME
Conversely, Asian and Pacific Islander households tend to have higher incomes than do comparable non-Hispanic white households. Among married-couple households in 2001, while a higher proportion of Asians and Pacific Islanders had incomes of less than $25,000 per year (14.3%) than did non-Hispanic whites (11.8%), a higher proportion of Asians and Pacific Islanders had incomes of more than $75,000 per year (44.2%) than did non-Hispanic whites (40.1%). (See Figure 5.3.) In addition, Asian and Pacific Islander female householders were decidedly better off than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Among these female-headed households, 32% of Asians and Pacific Islanders had incomes of less than $25,000, compared with 41.1% of non-Hispanic whites. On the other end of the scale, 17.1% of female-headed, Asian and Pacific Islander households had incomes of $75,000 and more per year, compared with only 10.5% of female-headed, non-Hispanic white households.
User Comments Add a comment…