Friday, February 29, 2008
Median U.S. Gross Income: $61,500
The IRS announced today (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 are charts showing the average income and tax rates 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)):
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/02/median-us-gross.html
Methinks you need to check your figures - and read your sources a bit more closely .The document you cite specifies that $61,500 is the "median gross income figures that are to be
used by issuers of qualified mortgage bonds, as defined in § 143(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, and issuers of mortgage credit certificates, as defined in § 25(c), in computing the
housing cost/income ratio described in § 143(f)(5)When computing the housing cost/income ratio under § 143(f)(5)." It is NOT the median income. According to a Census Bureau press released dated August 26, 2008, median income in the U.S. is $50,233. What's more, the charts you post here show "average income" not "median income." Surely, you know the difference between the two. Just wondering why you feel the need to mislead your readers about this matter?
Posted by: jjcomet | Oct 14, 2008 6:40:47 AM