Explaining Long-Term Differences Between Census and Bea Measures of Household Income

Two of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s most important measures of household income give different portraits of the nation’s economic performance during the last several decades. The U.S. Census Bureau collects information on the income of families and households by conducting sample surveys of the population. Its flagship measure is the median income of families, which is often shown in inflation-adjusted or “real” terms, as in table 1. 1 (The data are collected in an annual supplement to the Current Population Survey or CPS.) 2 This table shows that real median family income has increased very slowly over the years. From 1969 to 2009, it increased at an average annual rate of 0.52 percent per annum. It decreased at an average annual rate of 0.45 percent per annum from 1999 to 2009.