About 15 percent of the 28.6 million families living in standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSA's) in 1960 reported money incomes of less than $3,000 in 1959.,Of all classes of families living in SMSA’s in the North and West, about one out of seven reported incomes under $3,000. In the South, the incidence was considerably higher--about one out of five. Nonwhite families with incomes under $3,000 comprised 39 percent of all nonwhite families in the North and 48 percent in the South.

The percentage of families with incomes under $3,000 appears to be inversely related to the population size of SMSA’s. In those SMSA's with populations of 3 million or more, 13 percent of all families reported incomes under $3,000; in SMSA's of less than 100,000 population, 21 percent of all families had incomes under $3,000.

The incidence of incomes under $3,000 for all classes of families varies considerably, however, among the individual SMSA' s of 1 million inhabitants or more. The percentage of families with incomes under $3,000 ranged from 21 percent in the Atlanta, Ga., SMSA to 8 percent in the Patterson-Clifton-Passaic SMSA. For nonwhite families only, percentages ranged from 49 percent in the Atlanta, Ga., SMSA to 20 percent in the Seattle, Wash., SMSA.

The PDF to the right contains the 8-page report.