"Average American Income"??

[living_in_oz]

Does anyone know the average American income? I'm just wondering because I hear different amounts quoted all the time. Where are people coming up with these numbers? Does the government have an offical website that I could look at? I'm curious about it because I've heard that it's $35,000(yearly) per family, but another news story will say it's $43,000 per family.

Does anybody know?

[disneysteve]

The number we usually use is $46,000 for average household income. The exact figure is $46,242. That data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau.

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet...heet_0&_sse=on

Scroll down to the section marked "Economic Characteristics" to see that data. Click on the link to "show more" and you'll get a more detailed breakdown of what different portions of the population earn.

[living_in_oz]

Now how did I know that YOU would know the answer to my question?!LOL

Thanks Steve!

[disneysteve]

You're welcome. I'll take it as a compliment that you expected me to know.

[living_in_oz]

YES! It WAS a compliment!

[genmed]

Wow, that's a bit higher than I thought the average income was.

[Ima saver]

Yes,I thought it was about $40,000. We make more than average, but not a lot.

[JanH]

Is that 46,000 gross income?

[genmed]

Ima, we're not much over the average either. I was thinking it was more like $30k. I wonder though if you took out the top 1% if the average income wouldn't fall significantly?

[kv968]

Originally Posted by genmed

I wonder though if you took out the top 1% if the average income wouldn't fall significantly?

I don't think that number would fall much since it's the median (mid-point) household income. The mean (average) household income is $62,566. That number would probably drop more if you took out the top 1%.

[tinapbeana]

just also remember that this is a nationwide statistic. there are higher cost areas and lower cost areas, so your local averages/medians can be (and likely are) different.

for instance, who thinks that is the median income for manhatten? what about tuscaloosa?

[kv968]

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

just also remember that this is a nationwide statistic. there are higher cost areas and lower cost areas, so your local averages/medians can be (and likely are) different.

for instance, who thinks that is the median income for manhatten? what about tuscaloosa?

That's a good point to bring up tina. Geographics can come to play an important role in the numbers too. But evidentally you can survive in NYC with less seeing that newly hired NYPD officers start at $32,700/yr. I live not far from NYC and I'm surprised they even get people to sign up for that kind of money. They've recently been having some shortages with new recruits but there are people willing to do it. God bless em.

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by kv968

That's a good point to bring up tina. Geographics can come to play an important role in the numbers too. But evidentally you can survive in NYC with less seeing that newly hired NYPD officers start at $32,700/yr. I live not far from NYC and I'm surprised they even get people to sign up for that kind of money. They've recently been having some shortages with new recruits but there are people willing to do it. God bless em.

that actually makes the point very well, as new officers in many towns in my area start at about 25k per year.

thing is, 25k here stretches a LOT further than 32k in NYC....

[MonkeyMama]

I was going to say the average income around here is more $60k. Even higher in San Francisco area.

Hmmmm. Interesting...

[kv968]

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

thing is, 25k here stretches a LOT further than 32k in NYC....

32k in NYC doesn't stretch anywhere 32k here in NJ doesn't stretch very far either. I don't know what the median salary is here but I would guess it's somewhere around the 45-50k range. Maybe my man disneysteve could help me out here

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by kv968

32k in NYC doesn't stretch anywhere 32k here in NJ doesn't stretch very far either. I don't know what the median salary is here but I would guess it's somewhere around the 45-50k range. Maybe my man disneysteve could help me out here

It really depends on where you live. NJ is a very diverse place. In Camden, the poorest city in the country, median income is about 23K. Here in Cherry Hill, just a few miles away, the median is 69K. In Hunterdon County, it is about 80K.

[kv968]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

It really depends on where you live. NJ is a very diverse place. In Camden, the poorest city in the country, median income is about 23K. Here in Cherry Hill, just a few miles away, the median is 69K. In Hunterdon County, it is about 80K.

So the median could be considered around 50k then I guess. I know, there's a lot of diversion for such a little state. For those not familiar with NJ even though it's small, there can be quite a difference between "northern", "central" and "southern" NJ. Not that you care, just felt like adding that in

[threebeansalad]

Mean (average) is much more sensitive to extreme values. For that reason, median is always a better measure for income. Think of median as representing a "typical" value.

[Ima saver]

Income in the north ga. mountain area was real low when we moved here. Property taxes and insurance were very low. I remember one real estate broker telling me she would bet that no house in our area would ever sell for more than $100,000. My husband use to build houses all by himself for $7.50 an hour or $300 a week.

[kv968]

Originally Posted by threebeansalad

Mean (average) is much more sensitive to extreme values. For that reason, median is always a better measure for income. Think of median as representing a "typical" value.

I know, but I still think the median for NJ is about 50k. The mean is probably in probalby closer to the 70k range.