The median income is the
income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the
mean
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set.
For a data set, the '' ar ...
(or
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
) income. Both of these are ways of understanding
income distribution.
Median income can be calculated by
household income, by
personal income, or for specific demographic groups.
Median equivalent adult income
The following table represents data from OECD's "median disposable income per person" metric; disposable income deducts from gross income the value of taxes on income and wealth paid and of
contributions paid by households to public social security schemes. The figures are
equivalised by dividing income by the square root of household size. As OECD displays median disposable incomes in each country's respective currency, the values were converted here using PPP conversion factors for private consumption from the same source, accounting for each country's cost of living in the year that the disposable median income was recorded. Data are in
United States dollar
The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
s at current prices and current
purchasing power parity for private consumption for the reference year.
*An academic study on the Census income data claims that when correcting for underreporting, U.S. gross median household income was 15% higher in 2010 (table 3).
See also
*
Disposable household and per capita income
*
List of countries by average wage
*
List of countries by wealth per adult
*
List of U.S. states and territories by income
*
Income distribution
*
Household income in the United States
*
Median household income in Australia and New Zealand
*
Median income per household member
*
Places in the United States with notable demographic characteristics
*
Poverty in the United States
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Median Household Income
Wage
Gross domestic product
Income in the United States
Household income lists