These findings are contained in the Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006 report. Also released were income, poverty and earnings data from the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS) for states and metropolitan areas, counties, cities and American Indian/Alaska Native areas of 65,000 population or more and all congressional districts. (This year marks the first time that the population in group quarters - such as prisons, college dorms, military barracks and nursing homes - is included, so the 2006 estimates are not fully comparable to the 2005 estimates.)
The 2007 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement reveals the following results for the nation:
Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to people reporting a single race only)
Real median household income of white households rose 1.1 percent between 2005 and 2006 (from $50,100 to $50,700), the first real increase in annual household income for this group since 1999. Asian households had the highest median income at $64,200, followed by non-Hispanic white ($52,400), Hispanic ($37,800) and black ($32,000) households. Income levels remained statistically unchanged between 2005 and 2006 for each of these groups.
Regions
Between 2005 and 2006, real median incomes of households in the nation's four regions were statistically unchanged. In 2006, the Northeast and West had the highest household incomes at $52,100 and $52,200, respectively, followed by the Midwest ($47,800) and South ($43,900). (The apparent difference between household incomes of the Northeast and West was not statistically significant.)
Nativity and Earnings
Real median income rose by 1.3 percent to $49,100 in 2006 for native-born households and was statistically unchanged for foreign-born households ($43,900).
In 2006, women earned 77 cents for each dollar earned by men, statistically unchanged from 2005. Real median earnings of both men and women who worked full time, year-round declined between 2005 and 2006. The median earnings for men fell 1.1 percent to $42,300; for women, the corresponding numbers were 1.2 percent and $32,500.
About 9.8 percent (7.7 million) of the nation's families were in poverty in 2006. Married-couple families had a poverty rate of 4.9 percent (2.9 million), compared with 28.3 percent (4.1 million) for female-householder, no-husband-present families and 13.2 percent (671,000) for those with a male householder and no wife present. The poverty rate for these types of families in poverty showed no statistically significant change between 2005 and 2006.
As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2006 was $20,614; for a family of three, $16,079; for a family of two, $13,167; and for unrelated individuals, $10,294.
