Poverty - Median Income

In its surveys, the U.S. Bureau of the Census differentiates between households and families. A "household" is an individual living alone or a group of persons living together who may or may not be related, while a "family" is composed of two or more related individuals. All families are households, but not all households are families. In 2002 there were over 111.2 million households in the United States but only 75.5 million families. (See Table 3.7.)

TABLE 3.6
Poverty status and work experience of people in families and unrelated individuals, 2001
(Numbers in thousands)

		In married-couple families				In families maintained by women			In families maintained by men
Poverty status and work experience	Total persons	Husbands	Wives	Related children under 18	Other relatives	Householder	Related children under 18	Other relatives	Householder	Related children under 18	Other relatives	Unrelated individuals
Total
All persons1	216,788	56,160	56,712	5,416	17,386	13,118	1,856	9,965	4,420	455	4,459	46,840
With labor force activity	152,300	44,872	37,186	2,273	12,524	9,720	686	6,689	3,526	159	3,083	31,582
1 to 26 weeks	14,157	1,480	3,504	1,316	2,783	789	428	1,082	192	82	306	2,195
27 weeks or more	138,143	43,392	33,682	957	9,741	8,931	258	5,607	3,334	77	2,778	29,387
With no labor force activity	64,488	11,287	19,527	3,144	4,862	3,397	1,170	3,276	894	296	1,376	15,258
At or above poverty level
All persons1	194,586	53,430	53,954	5,113	16,716	9,652	1,384	8,555	3,837	381	4,075	37,492
With labor force activity	142,995	43,390	36,317	2,214	12,280	7,710	550	6,105	3,182	145	2,942	28,161
1 to 26 weeks	11,654	1,328	3,218	1,279	2,683	293	334	881	124	78	274	1,162
27 weeks or more	131,341	42,062	33,098	935	9,597	7,417	216	5,225	3,058	67	2,669	26,999
With no labor force activity	51,591	10,040	17,637	2,898	4,436	1,941	834	2,449	655	236	1,133	9,332
Below poverty level
All persons1	22,201	2,730	2,758	304	670	3,466	472	1,410	583	75	384	9,348
With labor force activity	9,305	1,482	869	59	244	2,010	136	583	344	14	141	3,421
1 to 26 weeks	2,503	152	285	37	100	496	94	201	68	5	32	1,034
27 weeks or more	6,802	1,331	583	22	145	1,514	42	382	277	10	109	2,388
With no labor force activity	12,897	1,247	1,890	245	426	1,456	336	827	239	60	243	5,927
Rate2
All persons1	10.2	4.9	4.9	5.6	3.9	26.4	25.4	14.2	13.2	16.4	8.6	20.0
With labor force activity	6.1	3.3	2.3	2.6	2.0	20.7	19.9	8.7	9.8	9.1	4.6	10.8
1 to 26 weeks	17.7	10.2	8.1	2.8	3.6	62.8	22.0	18.6	35.3	5.9	10.5	47.1
27 weeks or more	4.9	3.1	1.7	2.3	1.5	17.0	16.2	6.8	8.3	12.4	3.9	8.1
With no labor force activity	20.0	11.1	9.7	7.8	8.8	42.9	28.7	25.2	26.8	20.4	17.7	38.8
1Data on families include persons in primary families and unrelated subfamilies.
2Number below the poverty level as a percent of the total.
Note: Data refer to persons 16 years and older. Estimates are based on Census 2000 population controls and an expanded sample and are not strictly comparable with estimates for earlier years previously published.
SOURCE: "Table 9. Persons in Families and Unrelated Individuals: Poverty Status and Work Experience, 2001," A Profile of the Working Poor, 2001, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2003 [Online] http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpswp2001.pdf [accessed January 7, 2004]

Household Income

The median income (half the population earns less than this amount, and half earn more) for all households in 2002 was $42,409. African-American ($29,026) and Hispanic ($33,103) households had much lower median incomes than did non-Hispanic white households ($45,086) and API households ($52,626).

Family Income

In 2002 the median income for all families was $52,704. The median family income was 2.86 times the 2002 average poverty threshold of $18,400 for a family of four. Families headed by married couples of all racial and ethnic backgrounds enjoyed the greatest financial success (a median income of $61,254), with incomes 2.11 times that of female-headed households ($29,001). (See Table 3.7.)

Per Capita Income

In its annual Current Population Survey, the U.S. Census Bureau determines the per capita income in the United States. Per capita income is computed by dividing the total money income by the total population. In other words, it represents the amount of income that every man, woman, and child would receive if the nation's total earnings were divided equally among them. In 2002 the per capita income for all Americans was $22,794. The 2002 per capita incomes for different racial and ethnic groups were: non-Hispanic whites, $26,128; Asians and Pacific Islanders, $22,810; African-Americans, $15,441; and Hispanics, $13,487. Comparing the per capita income with the poverty level for a family of four in 2002 ($18,400) reveals that the poverty level for four people is less than the per capita income.