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Kiplinger - "How Your Income Stacks Up" - Median Income Is $33,000

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TomCADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 10:52 PM
Original message
Kiplinger - "How Your Income Stacks Up" - Median Income Is $33,000
Edited on Mon Dec-28-09 10:59 PM by TomCADem
Interesting information when considering what it takes to keep up with Joneses. Of course, I am sure there are wide regional disparities, because $33,000 does not go as far in California as it would go in other states.

http://content.kiplinger.com/features/archives/how-your-income-stacks-up.html



<>

More than 40 million Americans are officially living in poverty. And you might be surprised at how little income it takes to not be considered poor by the federal government. For 2008, the poverty threshold for a single person under age 65 was an income of $11,201, or less than $1,000 a month. For a family of four, the threshold was $21,834. For a family of six, $28,769.

With that perspective, you may wonder just how your income stacks up against that of your fellow citizens. New statistics from the IRS provide an answer. The numbers here come from an analysis of 2007 tax returns, the most recent ones that have been studied.

The data show that an income of $32,879 or more puts you in the top half of taxpayers. Earning a bit more than twice that much -- $66,532 -- earns you a spot among the top 25% of all earners. You crack the elite top 10% if you earn more than $113,018.

And $410,096 buys top bragging rights: Earn that much or more and you're among the top 1% of all American earners.


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SheilaT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 11:32 PM
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1. How many households
consist of just one earner?

Are your figures for household incomes, or by individual?
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TomCADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 11:43 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I Don't Think These Are Household Figures
I think the median household number is about $50,000, but this includes one earner households.
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pitohui Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-28-09 11:45 PM
Response to Original message
3. sure it is, i'm the only person on this site who admits to making less than that
barring a few out and out homeless posters

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MilesColtrane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 12:50 AM
Response to Original message
4. And every single one consider themselves "middle class".
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dmallind Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 09:06 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. Well by definition the median does indeed cover the middle
So unless your idea of the middle class cannot go below the 50th percentile (it would be rather strange for something that is both middle and a class to contain only members above the median), then people earning slightly to somewaht less than the median would indeed be middle class. AFAIK it's not a technical definition, but surely anything in the second and third quartiles might be thought to qualify quite well.
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TomCADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-29-09 11:40 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Exactly, Me And Bill Gates Have An Average Net Worth Of $29 Billion...
Which means nothing, since Bill Gates alone has a total net worth of $58 billion.

The median figure is a better determinant of what the typical American worker earns while the average is skewed higher by those receiving extremely high incomes.

In California, a median family of four with two wage earners earns about $75,000 or so. So, I think the Kiplinger figures for individual wage earners are probably relatively accurate.
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