The Census Bureau has tracked a growing inequality in income in the United States that began in the 1980s. For comparison purposes, the bureau divides the population into five income groups (quintiles). In 2001 the income differences were close to record highs, with only the top fifth having increased its percentage of the nation's income since the 1980s. According to the Census Bureau�…
Table 4.2 shows the distribution of median income for households from 1967 to 2002. ("Median" means that half the measured values are above the specified value and half are below.) In 2002 median income was $42,409, 10.2 percent above the level ten years earlier and 30.1 percent TABLE 4.1 Selected characteristics of households, by income, 2001 (Numbers in thousands. Households …
Income is one measure of a household's economic well-being; another measure is net worth, that is, the value of assets (what a person owns) minus any debts (what a person owes). In 2000 the median net worth of all households was $55,000 or $13,473 when home equity was excluded. While the median net worth of the lowest quintile was only $7,396, the median net worth of the highest quintile wa…
For most poor Americans, poverty is not a static condition. Some people near the poverty level improve their economic status within two years or less, while others at near-poverty levels become poor through economic catastrophes, such as illness or job loss. The Census Bureau collects annual poverty data in its Current Population Surveys (CPS). These surveys, however, do not reflect the dynamic na…
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