In 2018, the total personal income earned in the United States was $17.6 trillion.Overall, 86.01% of all households in the top two quintiles with upper-middle range incomes of over $55,332 were headed by someone identifying as Household income as well as per capita income in the United States rise significantly as the Household income also increased significantly with the educational attainment of the householder. Unlike the median household income, which divides all households in two halves, the mean income is the average income earned by American households. These figures support the general assumption that median household income as well as the While median household income has a tendency to increase up to four persons per household, it declines for households beyond four persons. The The group with the second highest median household income, were households headed by persons between the ages 35 and 44 with a median income of $56,785, followed by those in the age group between 55 and 64 with $50,400. The biggest income difference was between those with some college education and those who had a The change in median personal and household since 1991 also varied greatly with educational attainment. Use of individual household income: The government and organizations may look at one particular household's income to decide if a person is eligible for certain programs, such as nutrition assistance Use at the aggregate level: Summaries of household incomes across groups of people – often the entire country – are also studied as part of economic trends like standard of living and distribution of income and wealth. The following table shows the median household income according to the educational attainment of the householder. Overall, the median household income increased with the age of householder until Households headed by persons between the ages of 45 and 54 had a median household income of $61,111 and a mean household income of $77,634. Household income can be studied across time, region, education level, race/ethnicity, and many other dimensions.

[URLs no longer available]). For example, in the state of Alabama in 2004, two-person households had a median income of $39,755, with $48,957 for three-person households, $54,338 for four-person households, $50,905 for five-person households, $45,435 for six-person households, with seven-or-more-person households having the second lowest median income of only $42,471.Considering other racial and geographical differences in regards to household income, it should come as no surprise that the As of 2017, the median household income ranged from $19,775 in All data is from the 2007–2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates.Household income is one of the most commonly used measures of Median inflation-adjusted ("real") household incomeDistribution of household income in 2014 according to US Census dataMedian inflation-adjusted ("real") household income Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.Distribution of household income in 2014 according to US Census dataAmerican FactFinder.

For instance, the retirement of the Baby Boom generation should push down overall median income, as more persons enter lower-income retirement.

Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics: 2010. Median inflation-adjusted ("real") household income generally increases and decreases with the business cycle, declining in each year during the periods 1979 through 1983, 1990 through 1993, 2000 through 2004 and 2008 through 2012, while rising in each of the intervening years. Table DP-3 (for American Samoa / Guam / Northern Mariana Islands / U.S. Virgin Islands). However, analysis of different working age groups indicate a similar pattern of stagnating median income as well.Another line of analysis, known as "total compensation," presents a more complete picture of real wages. Extreme povertyin the United States, meaning households living on less than $2 per person per day before government benefits, more than doubled in absolute terms from 636,000 to 1.46 million households (including 2.8 million children) … The following table summarizes real median household income at key recent milestones: The top 10% saw gross household income grow by 78%, versus 26.5% for the median. The US Census Bureau publishes educational attainment and income data for all households with a householder who was aged twenty-five or older. As an indicator of economic trends, it may be studied along with related economic measures such as Between 1979 and 2011, gross median household income, adjusted for inflation, rose from $59,400 to $75,200, or 26.5%. Overall, households headed by persons above the age of seventy-five had a median household income of $20,467 with the median household income per member of household being $18,645. Household income as an economic measure can be represented as a median, a mean, a distribution, and other ways.

The Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a study in 2013 which shows that employer contributions to employee healthcare costs went up 78% from 2003 to 2013.Measured relative to GDP, total compensation and its component wages and salaries have been declining since 1970.