Posted on 10/14/2015 10:35:24 AM PDT by Kaslin
When the Census Bureau recently released its 2014 data on household income in the United States, the numbers once again pointed to a basic trend that this nation's liberal political and cultural elite has no interest in publicizing.
Married people with children generally do better financially than other Americans.
As previously noted in this column, this was true in 2013. We now know it remained true in 2014. The overall median household income in the United States in 2014 was $53,657.
Female householders in a nonfamily household had a median income of $26,673, according to the Census Bureau's Table HINC-01. Male householders in a nonfamily household had a median income of $39,181. Unmarried-couple households with children under 18 had a median income of $50,283, according to Table HINC-04, and unmarried-couple households with no children under 18 had a median income of $64,645.
But married-couple households with no children under 18 had a median income of $76,000, and married-couple households with children under 18 had a median income of $87,728.
In deriving its household income numbers, the Census considers a family "a group of two people or more (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together." An "unmarried couple" household "is composed of two unrelated adults of the opposite sex (one of whom is the householder) who share a housing unit with or without the presence of children under 15 years old."
A married-couple household is composed of "a husband and wife enumerated as members of the same household."
Not surprisingly, Americans tend to have higher incomes in middle age than in youth or old age, and married couples tend to follow this trend along a higher income line than other types of households.
The overall median income was $34,605 for householders 24 or younger in 2014, according to the Census Bureau's Table HINC-02. It peaked at $72,532 for householders 45 to 49, and declined to $28,535 for householders 75 or older.
For female householders living alone at 24 and under, the median income was only $16,992. That rose to a peak of $37,908 for females living alone at 40 to 44, and then fell to $18,237 for females living alone at 75 or older.
For male householders living alone at 24 and under, the median income was $25,303. That rose to a peak of $45,525 for males living alone at 30 to 34 and then fell to $29,514 for males living alone at 75 or older.
Nonfamily households -- which consist "of a householder living alone (a one-person household) or where the householder shares the home exclusively with people to whom he/she is not related" -- did slightly better.
Their median income when the householder was 24 or younger was $31,018, rose to a peak of $50,929 for householders 30 to 34, and dropped to $19,652 for householders 75 or older.
Yet among married-couple families where the householder was 24 or younger, the median income was $43,815 in 2014. That rose to a peak of $101,434 when the householder was 45 to 49, and declined only to $49,924 when the householder was 75 or older.
The Census Bureau also divided American households into five equal brackets, ranked from lowest to highest, according to their incomes. It then showed (in Table HINC-05) what percentage of each type of household fell into which bracket.
Married-couple families were the most likely to be in the top bracket (32.4 percent were there) and least likely to be in the lowest (7 percent). Among nonfamily households, 35.3 percent were in the bottom bracket and 8.2 percent were in the highest.
A large majority of married-couple families -- 58.8 percent -- were in the top two brackets. An even larger majority of nonfamily households -- 60.8 percent -- were in the bottom two brackets.
Why do Americans who maintain traditional families generally do so well compared to other Americans?
Surely, there are many practical reasons. But ultimately, it is the force of love, not greed, that drives them into the top income brackets.
Maybe to some extent, people who do well can afford to maintain traditional families.
Because kids are expensive, and therefore you have to work more? You also have to budget and save more intensely wherever you can, and that sometimes allow you to come out ahead when your bills come in lower.
Just a guess.
because I break my @ss to support my family and then are too tired to spend my money when I'm not working.
Married couples with two incomes tend to earn more than single people with one income. This is shocking... what a startling discovery. I wonder how this can be?
But the dems are all bemoaning the death of the middle class while at the same time encouraging the breakup of the family. I tried for many years to explain to people seeking divorce that his/her standard of living would drop, often precipitously. No amount of child support, maintenance, and government assistance would prop up the standard of living. The only times I saw it happen was when there was a private disability policy that one of the parties began drawing at or around the time of the divorce.
Kids make you want to work.
Isn’t this obvious...because each child is a tax saving deduction?
Clearly need to tax married couples at a higher rate.
Simple answer. Because we have to work harder and longer than our counterparts to maintain some semblance of income equality since we get nothing from the government.
Thank goodness I didn’t follow the trend. I’ve been a single dad since 1989, I raised 4 kids (all on their own now). I am and have been quite happy with my income.
Read “Coming Apart” by Charles Murray. He spells this all out, and more.
Basically, “traditional morality” was cast aside by the elites of America in the 1960’s - but hypocritically, they mostly did not take on such new lifestyles for themselves. Traditional marriage, educational achievement, traditional gender roles, non-drug use, work ethic, etc... remained much the same - for upper income families.
Meanwhile, those things which gave stability and upward mobility to poor, or blue-collar citizens - strong family above all, strong church/social ties, strong shaming and prohibitions on particular social behaviors, all have been destroyed by American society, starting in the 1960s. The poor are now rudderless at sea.
Married Couple Privilege. It must be abolished.
Somewhere between respect and responsibility, you’ll find your answer :)
The best things in life are free, especially enjoying time playing.
When I worked at an extremely (and very famous) liberal foundation as a youth, I was surprised how conservative the program officers were in their private lives. Advocated all kinds of evil policies for the poor and lower middle class while being completely drug free, highly educated, married with a stable family and income. Hypocrites.
When the couple commits to each other and their children, they save and invest more than two people just living together with kids.
When they are just living together, even with kids, each engages in self-protective behavior like private savings and less investment in all forms from college savings to retirement savings.
Because that is a classically stable and successful union.
A good Marriage typically requires conservative ideals of some kind, a sense of responsibility, and hard work.
They also plan for the future because they have responsibilities.
Such people also make good employees and entrepreneurs.
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