It’s tax time, of course. And as Sue was doing our taxes, using the popular TurboTax computer program, it had a suggestion that we had a certain position within a national IRS/census context. [Hint: we lost ground this year, what with my joblessness July-December and Sue taking a pay cut to change schools (yeah, I know... it seems illogical, but it was still the right choice... Mammon is not king) . ]
Meanwhile, I felt like I had heard that the median income in the U.S. was a much lower figure than waht TurboTax was telling us. So I went looking for the hard data, and below are the real 2008 numbers (2007 numbers, actually… announced in early 2008). Thanks go out to Paul L. Caron of the U of Cincinnati College of Law for posting this in a blog back then.
Not trying to say anything here. Just passing along some interesting (realistic?, celebratory? frustrating?) numbers, as we move forward into the so-called economic “recovery” period. Good luck with your tax returns, people. It’s a jungle out there…
Median U.S. Gross Income: $61,500
The IRS announced today [Feb. 2008] ( in Rev. Proc. 2008-19) that the U.S. median gross income is $61,500. Go here to compute the median family income for dozens of metropolitan areas (Cincinnati’s median family income is $66,212.85.) Here is a chart showing the average income from 1916-2005 (Scott Hollenbeck & Maureen Keenan Kahrhas, Ninety Years of Individual Income and Tax Statistics, 1916-2005, in Statistics of Income Bulletin (Publication 1136) (Winter 2008)):
What Folks Be Writin’ Back