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Family
Income
-Sources: United States Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/f07a.html
and http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/f07b.html
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The real median
income for all families, adjusted for inflation, grew nearly 9%
from $41,051 in 1993 to $44,568 in 1997. One third of this increase
occurred between 1996 and 1997. The gains restored median family
income to its 1989 pre-recessionary level ($44,284).
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The median
income of African American families in 1997 was $28,602, an increase
of 20% over the median in 1993 ($23,927) and a gain of 5% over
the median in 1996 ($27,131). The median incomes in 1997 of white
families ($46,754) and of Hispanic families ($28,142) were both
up 7 percent from their 1993 levels. Asian Pacific Islanders ($51,850)
had the highest median family income among the race groups in
1997, a 5% increase over their 1993 median.
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The median
income of black families ($28,602) in 1997 was only 61% of the
median for white families. The gap in part reflects the much smaller
percentage of black (47%) than of white (81%) families maintained
by married couples. Among married couple families, the gap is
much smaller: the median income of black families ($45,372) was
87% of that for white families ($52,098). This represented a substantial
gain since 1967 when the median income of black-married couple
families was 68% of the median for comparable white families.
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Among married-couple
families with wives in the paid labor force, the median family
income for blacks in 1997 ($51,072) was 84% of that for whites
($61,441), up from 72% in 1967. A higher percentage of black (69%)
than of white (61%) married-couple families were two-earner couples.
-Sources: United States Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/f07a.html
and http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/f07b.html
Single Parent
Families
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The real median
income of families maintained by black single mothers ($16,879)
increased 6.3% between 1996 and 1997, compared to a 4.4% increase
among all single-mother families. Between 1993 and 1997, the median
income of black single-mother families rose nearly 28%, while
that for comparable white families grew by only 4%. During the
same period the median income of families maintained by single
black fathers increased by 19% to $25,654, while the median for
white single fathers increased about 11% to $34,802. These gains
narrowed the gaps in the median incomes of black and white single
parents, but the median incomes for the families of black single
mothers and fathers were still less than 75% of those for their
white counterparts.
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Nevertheless,
the median incomes of families maintained by black single mothers
($16,879) and single fathers ($25,654) were only 37% and 57%,
respectively, of the median for black married-couple families
($45,372). White single mothers ($22,999) and fathers ($34,802)
had median family incomes 44% and 67% of the median for white
married-couple families ($52,098).
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In 1997, the
median income of families maintained by black single mothers ($16,879)
was just above the poverty threshold for a family of four ($16,405),
while the median for white families maintained by single mothers
($22,999) was 40% above that threshold. The poverty rate for the
families of black single mothers in 1997 (47%) was more than 5
times higher than that for black married-couple families with
children (9%). The families of white single mothers also had a
poverty rate (38%) that was more than 5 times the rate for white
married couples with children (7%).
References
Prepared by Cassandra
Cantave and Roderick Harrison for the Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies. August 1999.
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Last updated: December 18, 2007
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