Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census,Current Population Reports, Money Income in the United States,series P60-193, P60-197, P60-200, P60-206, and P60-209.

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 CPSsample of 60,000 housing units was supplemented by 2,500 housing units which had at least one Hispanic member theprevious 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 thesample had been interviewed the previous March.

Interviewers used lap-top computers to administer the interview, asking questions as they appear on the screen and directlyentering the responses obtained. With the exception of first and the fifth month-in-sample interviews, when an interviewerusually 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 wasadded 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 whoprovided 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 personsrelated 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 thehousehold and the son's wife are members of the household, theyare treated as members of the parent's family. Every family mustinclude a reference person (see definition of householder forprimary families); two or more people living in the samehousehold who are related to one another, but are not related tothe householder, form an "unrelated subfamily." Beginning withthe 1980 CPS, unrelated subfamilies were excluded from the countof families and unrelated subfamily members were excluded fromthe count of family members.

Family households

Family households are households maintained by a family (asdefined above). Members of family households include anyunrelated persons (unrelated subfamily members and/or secondaryindividuals) who may be residing there. The number of familyhouseholds will not equal the number of families since familiesliving in group quarters are included in the count of families.In addition, the count of family household members differs fromthe count of family members in that the family household membersinclude all persons living in the household, whereas familymembers include only the householder and his/her relatives. (See the definition of family).

Income

For each person in the Current Population Survey (CPS) sample15 years old and over, questions were asked on the amount ofmoney income received in the preceding calendar year from eachof 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) SocialSecurity; 6) Supplemental Security income; 7) public assistance;8) veterans' payments; 9) survivor benefits; 10) disabilitybenefits; 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 otherperiodic income. Capital gains and lump-sum or one-time paymentsare excluded. For definitions of alternative measures of income(definitions 1 through 15 shown in tables 10 through 12), seeintroductory text.

It should be noted that although the income statistics refer toreceipts during the preceding calendar year, the demographiccharacteristics such as age, labor force status, and family orhousehold composition are as of the survey date. The income ofthe family/household does not include amounts received by personswho were members during all or part of the income year if thesepersons no longer resided in the family/household at the time ofinterview. However, income data are collected for persons whoare current residents but did not reside in the household duringthe income year.

Data on consumer income collected in the CPS by the Bureau of theCensus cover money income received (exclusive of certain moneyreceipts such as capital gains) before payments for personalincome taxes, Social Security, union dues, Medicare deductions,etc. Therefore, money income does not reflect the fact that somefamilies receive part of their income in the form of noncashbenefits such as food stamps, health benefits, noncash benefitsin the form of rent-free housing and goods produced and consumedon the farm; or that non-cash benefits are also received by somenonfarm residents which often take the form of the use ofbusiness transportation and facilities, full or partial paymentsby business for retirement programs, medical and educationalexpenses, etc. These elements should be considered whencomparing income levels. Moreover, readers should be aware thatfor many different reasons there is a tendency in householdsurveys for respondents to underreport their income. From ananalysis of independently derived income estimates, it has beendetermined that income earned from wages or salaries is muchbetter reported than other sources of income, and is nearly equalto independent estimates of aggregate income.

Median income

Median income is the amount which divides the income distributioninto 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 arebased on persons 15 years old and over with income.

Mean income

Mean income is the amount obtained by dividing the totalaggregate income of a group by the number of units in thatgroup. The means for households, families, and unrelatedindividuals are based on all households, families, and unrelatedindividuals. The means for persons are based on persons 15 yearsold and over with income.

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