Median Income of Families by Type of Family in Current and Constant (2005) Dollars: 1947 to 2005 (Statistical Abstract 2008 Table 0677)

The Statistical Abstract files are distributed by the census department as excel files. These files have data mixed with notes and references, multiple tables per sheet, and worst of all the table headers aren’t easily matched to their rows and columns.
The excel files in this collection are unmolested copies of the census originals, with the following exceptions:

1. A few files had extraneous characters in the title. These were
   corrected to be consistent. A few files have a sheet of crufty
   gibberish in the first slot. The sheet order was shuffled but no
   data were changed.

1. The first four files have been restructured to allow full
   comprehension of the table. If you’d like to help clean up the data
   follow along with what’s there.

The CSV files, and the payload portions of the yaml files, have not been processed beyond extracting an array (excel sheets) of 2-D arrays (each sheet’s cells).

Some metadata (title, footnotes, symbols, and sources) has been copied (without molesting the imported stream) into the appropriate slot in this schema. This metadata identification was purposefully done to be strict and simple, and the original files are somewhat irregular, so it’s possible that some metadata fields were missed

These files have been tagged by hand and received cursory inspection, but you’re advised to check against the originals before you go lauching any Mars rovers.

Notes (pg 2)

1. Data based on 1940 census population controls.
2. Data reflect implementation of expanded income questions to show wage and salary, farm self-
   employment, nonfarm self-employment, and all other nonearned income separately.
3. Data reflect implementation of 1950 census population controls.
4. Data reflect implementation of first hotdeck procedure to impute missing income entries (all income
   data imputed if any missing). Data also reflect introduction of 1960 census-based sample design.
5. Data reflect full implementation of 1960 census-based sample design and population controls.
6. Data reflect implementation of new procedures to impute missing data only.
7. Questionnaire expanded to ask eight income questions.
8. Data reflect implementation of a new March CPS processing system.
9. Data reflect introduction of 1970 census-based sample design and population controls.
10. Data reflect full implementation of 1970 census-based sample design.
11. Data reflect implementation of a new March CPS processing system. Questionnaire expanded to ask
    eleven income questions.
12. Some of these estimates were derived using Pareto interpolation and may differ from published data
    which were derived using linear interpolation.
13. First year medians were derived using both Pareto and linear interpolation. Before this year, all medians
    were derived using linear interpolation.
14. Data reflect implementation of 1980 census population controls. Questionnaire expanded to show 27
    possible values from 51 possible sources of income.
15. Data reflect implementation of Hispanic population weighting controls and introduction of 1980 census-
    based sample design.
16. Recording of amounts for earnings from longest job were increased to $299,999. Data reflect full
    implementation of 1980 census-based sample design.
17. Data reflect implementation of 1990 census population controls.
18. Data collection method changed from paper and pencil to computer-assisted interviewing. In addition,
    the March 1994 income supplement was revised to allow for the coding of different income amounts on
    selected questionnaire items. Child support and alimony limits decreased to $49,999. Limits increased in
    the following categories: earnings to $999,999; social security to $49,999; supplemental security income
    and public assistance income to $24,000; and veterans’ benefits to $99,999.
19. Data reflect introduction of 1990 census-based sample design.
20. Data reflect full implementation of the 1990 census-based sample design and metropolitan definitions,
    7,000 hosehold sample reduction, and revised race edits.
21. Implementation of Census 2000-based population controls.
22. Implementation of 28,000 household sample expansion.
23. Data have been revised to reflect a correction to the weights in the 2005 ASEC.
    For more information:
    http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income.html
    CURRENT POPULATION SURVEY (MARCH ANNUAL DEMOGRAPHIC SURVEY)
    Approximately 62,500 housing units were eligible to receive the 1995 Annual Demographic Survey. The basic monthly CPS
    sample of 60,000 housing units was supplemented by 2,500 housing units which had at least one Hispanic member the
    previous November. In addition, members of the Armed Forces, which are excluded from the basic CPS labor force survey,
    were part of the elibigle population in March. Because of the CPS sample rotation system, approximately one-half of the
    sample had been interviewed the previous March.
    Interviewers used lap-top computers to administer the interview, asking questions as they appear on the screen and directly
    entering the responses obtained. With the exception of first and the fifth month-in-sample interviews, when an interviewer
    usually visited the sample unit, over 90 percent of the interviews were conducted by telephone.
    Completed interviews were electronically transmitted to a central processor where the responses were edited for consistency,
    imputations were made for missing data, and various codes were added. Based on the probability of selection, a weight was
    added to each supplement-responding household and person record so that estimates of the population by state, race, age,
    sex, and Hispanic origin matched the population projections made by the Bureau of the Census. Since not every person who
    provided labor force information completed the supplement and the supplement was asked of members of the Armed Forces,
    the supplement weights vary from those used for labor force estimation.
    DEFINITIONS
    Family
    The term “family” refers to a group of two or more persons
    related by birth, marriage, or adoption who reside together;
    all such persons are considered as members of one family.
    For example, if the son of the person who maintains the
    household and the son’s wife are members of the household, they
    are treated as members of the parent’s family. Every family must
    include a reference person (see definition of householder for
    primary families); two or more people living in the same
    household who are related to one another, but are not related to
    the householder, form an “unrelated subfamily.” Beginning with
    the 1980 CPS, unrelated subfamilies were excluded from the count
    of families and unrelated subfamily members were excluded from
    the count of family members.
    Family households
    Family households are households maintained by a family (as
    defined above). Members of family households include any
    unrelated persons (unrelated subfamily members and/or secondary
    individuals) who may be residing there. The number of family
    households will not equal the number of families since families
    living in group quarters are included in the count of families.
    In addition, the count of family household members differs from
    the count of family members in that the family household members
    include all persons living in the household, whereas family
    members include only the householder and his/her relatives.
    (See the definition of family).
    Income
    For each person in the Current Population Survey (CPS) sample
    15 years old and over, questions were asked on the amount of
    money income received in the preceding calendar year from each
    of the following sources: 1) earnings from longest job (or self-
    employment); 2) earnings from jobs other than longest job; 3)
    unemployment compensation; 4) worker’s compensation; 5) Social
    Security; 6) Supplemental Security income; 7) public assistance;
    8) veterans’ payments; 9) survivor benefits; 10) disability
    benefits; 11) pension or retirement income; 12) interest; 13)
    dividends; 14) rents, royalties, and estates and trusts; 15)
    educational assistance; 16) alimony; 17) child support; 18)
    financial assistance from outside of the household, and other
    periodic income. Capital gains and lump-sum or one-time payments
    are excluded. For definitions of alternative measures of income
    (definitions 1 through 15 shown in tables 10 through 12), see
    introductory text.
    It should be noted that although the income statistics refer to
    receipts during the preceding calendar year, the demographic
    characteristics such as age, labor force status, and family or
    household composition are as of the survey date. The income of
    the family/household does not include amounts received by persons
    who were members during all or part of the income year if these
    persons no longer resided in the family/household at the time of
    interview. However, income data are collected for persons who
    are current residents but did not reside in the household during
    the income year.
    Data on consumer income collected in the CPS by the Bureau of the
    Census cover money income received (exclusive of certain money
    receipts such as capital gains) before payments for personal
    income taxes, Social Security, union dues, Medicare deductions,
    etc. Therefore, money income does not reflect the fact that some
    families receive part of their income in the form of noncash
    benefits such as food stamps, health benefits, noncash benefits
    in the form of rent-free housing and goods produced and consumed
    on the farm; or that non-cash benefits are also received by some
    nonfarm residents which often take the form of the use of
    business transportation and facilities, full or partial payments
    by business for retirement programs, medical and educational
    expenses, etc. These elements should be considered when
    comparing income levels. Moreover, readers should be aware that
    for many different reasons there is a tendency in household
    surveys for respondents to underreport their income. From an
    analysis of independently derived income estimates, it has been
    determined that income earned from wages or salaries is much
    better reported than other sources of income, and is nearly equal
    to independent estimates of aggregate income.
    Median income
    Median income is the amount which divides the income distribution
    into two equal groups, half having incomes above the median,
    half having incomes below the median. The medians for households,
    families, and unrelated individuals are based on all households,
    families, and unrelated individuals. The medians for persons are
    based on persons 15 years old and over with income.
    Mean income
    Mean income is the amount obtained by dividing the total
    aggregate income of a group by the number of units in that
    group. The means for households, families, and unrelated
    individuals are based on all households, families, and unrelated
    individuals. The means for persons are based on persons 15 years
    old and over with income.

[Constant dollars based on Consumer Price Index Research Series using current methods (CPI-U-RS) deflator. Families as of March of the following year.
Based on Current Population Survey; see text, sections 1 and 13, and Appendix III.
For methodology information, see
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/p60_231sa.pdf
For definition of median, see Guide to Tabular Presentation]

table: [127, 19]

Notes (pg 2)

• (NA) Not available.

0677

2008