Quick “Facts” About the 2010 Census:
308,745,539 – total population
$26,197 – median (middle) individual income (50% earned less; 50% earned more)$38,337 – mean (average) individual income (see below)
$49,445 – median household income $67,530 – mean household income (see below)
1.797 – mean number of income earners per household
Normally, to get the mean (average) income, one would add all the incomes together and divide by the number of income earners. The government manipulates the data, to
achieve a low mean, in the following ways:
– The US Census Bureau “plugs-in” $250,000 for all incomes greater than $250,000 for the sake of “privacy”; the higher income isn’t used to establish the mean
– Various US Census Bureau publications use different populations of earners (ie. All earners, full-time, year-round, part-time, seasonal, etc.) so that a consistent comparison among its various publications and data tables can’t be made,
– Various US Census Bureau publications use different definitions for ‘income’, ‘income earner’, ‘wage’, ‘wage earner’, and ‘household’, again, preventing comparisons
among its publications and data tables.
In its Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social & Economic (ASEC) Supplement [PINC-1], the US Census Bureau breaks-down incomes under $100,000 into thirty-four ranges of $2,499 and combines the data for everyone making “$100,000 and over” into a single category.
The middle category is the range “$40,000 to $42,499”. The 2009 CPS ASEC survey states the median income to be $26,197 and the mean to be $38,337; almost 50% higher. Statistically, because of the nearly 212 – 250 million incomes used in the equation, the median and mean should be no more than the 2-3% margin of error plus the standard deviation. This 50% discrepancy should be unacceptable to anyone considering this data.
The total of all incomes is never given in US Census Bureau publications. The total
of all incomes within an individual income bracket is also never given. Statistically, such an omission is completely unacceptable. Instead a ‘weighted aggregate’ of $8,107,886,645 is given and this is due, in large part, to the plugging-in of $250,000 for all incomes over $250,000.
Also, it must be assumed, that because 33,000,000 people with no incomes are part of the data table they were used to figure the median though they contribute nothing to the aggregate total of all incomes; thus reducing the mean and median.
It is in the governments best interests, for the sake of ‘domestic tranquility’ and the public’s best interest, for the sake of personal pride, that everyone believes these artificially low median and mean incomes; which are often used to infer middle of middle class income levels.