Personal income in the United States
Personal income is an individual's total earnings from wages, investment interest, and other sources. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median weekly personal income of $1,037 for full-time workers in the United States in Q1 2022.[1] For the year 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the median annual earnings for all workers (aged 15 and over) was $41,535; and more specifically estimates that median annual earnings for those who worked full-time, year round, was $56,287.[2][3]
Income patterns are evident on the basis of age, sex, ethnicity and educational characteristics. In 2005 roughly half of all those with graduate degrees were among the nation's top 15% of income earners. Among different demographics (gender, marital status, ethnicity) for those over the age of 18, median personal income ranged from $3,317 for an unemployed, married Asian American female[4] to $55,935 for a full-time, year-round employed Asian American male.[5] According to the US Census, men tended to have higher income than women, while Asians and Whites earned more than African Americans and Hispanics.
The number of thousands of individuals in each income bracket
Proportion of all households with six-figure incomes, and individuals with incomes in the top 10% (exceeding $77,500)
Median personal income by race (Hispanics, including people from all racial categories, is not disjoint)[30]
![Median personal income by race (Hispanics, including people from all racial categories, is not disjoint)[30]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/79/Personal_income_race.png/109px-Personal_income_race.png)
Personal income varied significantly with an individual's racial characteristics with racial discrepancies having remained largely stagnant since 1996. Overall, Asian Americans earned higher median personal incomes than any other racial demographic. Asian Americans had a median income roughly ten percent higher than that of Whites.[23] The only exception was among the holders of graduate degrees who constitute 8.9% of the population. Among those with a master's, professional or doctorate degree, those who identified as White had the highest median individual income. This racial income gap was relatively small.[23][24]
Those identifying as Hispanic or Latino (who may have been of any race) had the lowest overall median personal income, earning 28.51% less than Whites[24][25] and 35% less than Asian Americans.[23] The second largest racial or ethnic gap was between Whites and African Americans with the former earning roughly 22% more than the latter. Thus one can observe a significant discrepancy with the median income of Asians and Whites and that of African Americans and Hispanics.[26]
Overall the race gap between African Americans and Whites has remained roughly equal between both races over the past decade.[24][27] Both races saw a gain in median income between 1996 and 2006, with the income growth among African Americans slightly outpacing that of Whites. In 1996 the median income for Whites was $5,957 (31%) higher than for Blacks. In 2006 the gap in median incomes was nearly identical with the median income for Whites being $5,929 (22%) higher than that for African Americans. While the gap remains numerically unchanged, the percentage difference between the two races has decreased as a result of mutual increases in median personal income.[24][27]
Measuring income by per capita is another way to look at personal earnings by race. Unlike median statistics, per capita statistics are affected by extremely high and low incomes. According to the U.S Census Bureau "The per capita income for the overall population in 2008 was $26,964; for non-Hispanic Whites, it was $31,313; for Blacks, it was $18,406; for Asians, it was $30,292; and for Hispanics, it was $15,674."[28][29]
Source: US Census Bureau, 2006[30]