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Median and Dual Income Households in 2011
All data on this page was compiled and linked to government sources.
(To date, all data for FY2012 has yet to released.)

Median and Mean Incomes Defined

Median income is the amount which divides the income distribution into two equal groups, half having income above that amount, and half having income below that amount.

Mean income (average) is the amount obtained by dividing the total income of a group by the number of earners in that group.

Household Income: There is median and mean income for individuals and mean and median household incomes, which includes all individual incomes per household.

The "median" income is considered by many statisticians to be a better indicator than the "mean" (or average) income as it is not dramatically affected by unusually high or low values.

EXAMPLE: According to the Social Security Administration, for FY2011 half of all U.S. wage earners (who filed a W-4 with an employer and paid FICA taxes) earned $26,965.43 a year or LESS after taxes --- $26,965.43 was the "median" annual net income for all U.S. wage earners for 2011 --- meaning half earned more and half earned less. (Updated on SSA website for 2012)

U.S. Household Incomes Before Taxes (2011)
Individual Tax Returns (Primary Data) for 2011 - Source: IRS
Wages Statistics for 2011 - Source: SSA

U.S. Census FY 2011	Number of Households	Median Household Income	Average Median Income Per Household	2013 Update	% of All Households
All Households	121,084,000	$50,054	$50,054	$51,404	100%
No Earners	28,569,000	$19,315	$19,315	* See notes	23.60
One Earner	45,578,000	$42,173	$42,173	-	37.64
Two Earners	37,943,000	$81,263	$40,631	-	31.33
Three Earners	6,905,000	$98,869	$32,956	-	5.70
Four (or more)	2,089,000	$121,918	$30,479	-	1.73
2011 Labor Force	151,380,749	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2011 Tax Returns	145,579,530	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Less Tax Returns >	5,801,219	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
2011 Population	311,591,917	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Of the Unemployed in 2011
Job Losers	59%
Re-Entrants	25%
Job Leavers	7%
New Entrants	9%
Total	100%

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, out of the 13.7 million Americans who were unemployed in 2011, there were 8.1 million who were "job losers" --- workers who either lost their jobs or completed temporary jobs without ever being rehired.

According to the Department of Labor, by the end of 2011 there were a total of 7,449,507 unemployed Americans receiving some form of unemployment benefits. (3,685,651 for Regular State benefits + 3,048,926 for Federal extended benefits + others.)

As of December 2011 there were 8,576,067 disabled workers receiving Social Security Disability Insurance and 35,599,046 retired workers receiving regular Social Security benefits.

TOTALS (Others) - 7,449,507 jobless workers collecting unemployment checks + 8,576,067 disabled workers on SSDI + 35,599,046 retired workers = 51,624,620 not receiving wages reported to Social Security for FICA taxes --- and may not be classified as "earners" by the U.S. Census Bureau's CPS survey, but are included in the chart above as 28,569,000 household incomes with "No Earners".

Also in 2011, the Center for Budget and Priorities reports that about 4 million families were receiving TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, formerly known as "welfare"). This could also be income from a household with "No Earners".

And according to the USDA, by December 2011 there were 46,514,155 Americans were receiving SNAP (food stamps).

Those receiving other incomes from Roth IRAs, 401ks, union pensions (and by nefarious means) are in the 51,624,620 TOTAL above, but still may be classified as "No Earners" by the U.S. Census Bureau's CPS survey but are also counted in the household income.

2011 Wages
$8,292,393,204,000	Adjusted Gross Income reported by the IRS for FY2011
- 6,161,526,961,000	Salaries and Wages (does not include capital gains)
[6,018,898,816,536]	Compensation subject to Federal income taxes reported by the Social Security Administration for FY2011
= $2,130,866,243,000	That's a $2.1 trillion difference to be reconciled! It can't all be capital gains, can it? That's more than double of FY2007. See chart here
$10,130,951,000 It can't be only $10.1 Billion. Could it be $1.01 Trillion?	FY2011 "net capital gains" reported by the IRS. For FY2007 Forbes reported capital gains at a record high of $934 billion (Data for FY2012 is currently unavailable.)

Source: http://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsrace2011.pdf

Other Miscellaneous Info for 2011

Bureau of Labor Statistics: "Urban households estimated that the market value of their owned home was $153,147, while rural households estimated that the market value of their owned home was $129,111, a difference of $24,036. Urban renters reported paying $699, on average, for monthly rent, while rural renters reported paying $354, on average."

Bureau of Labor Statistics: "In 2011, 73.9 million American workers age 16 and over were paid hourly rates, representing 59.1 percent of all wage and salary workers. Of that number, 1.7 million earned exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and 2.2 million had wages below the minimum. Together, these workers made up 5.2 percent of all hourly paid workers. Part-time workers (persons who usually work fewer than 35 hours per week) were more likely than full-time workers to be paid the Federal minimum wage or less [and were mostly younger and less educated]."

*** NOTE: Almost a quarter of all U.S. households live on a median income of $19,315 a year.

Wall Street Journal: CEO Options - The long-term capital gains tax rate is 20% (+3.8% sur-tax for ObamaCare®) --- and the "qualified five-year" capital gains tax rate is only 18%.

FORBES: "Capital gains are the key ingredient of income disparity in the U.S. --- and more than 80% of the increase in income inequality over the past several years was the result of an increase in the share of household income from capital gains."

Quote from the late Justice Louis Brandeis: "We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”