The average incomes of families and persons reached record levels in 1963, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. The average (median) income of families was $6,200 last year, a gain of about $290, or 5 percent, over 1962. Because consumer prices rose approximately 1 percent during this period, not all of the increase in the average family income represented a net gain in real income.¹

An estimated 8.8 million families, or 19 percent of the 47.4 million families in the Nation received money incomes under $3,000 in 1963. The number of families in this income range declined by approximately one-half million from the previous year. About 8.4 million, or 18 percent, received incomes between $3,000 and $5,000 last year; and 10.1 million, or 21 percent, had incomes between $5,000 and $7,000. The remaining 20.1 million families, or 42 percent, are estimated to have received incomes of $7,000 or more, representing an increase of about 2 million families over 1962.

For men, last year's median income advanced to $4,500, up $140, or 3 percent, from the preceding year. Among women with income, the average (median) income was $1,400 in 1963, about the same as it had been in the preceding year.

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¹ See Monthly Labor Review, March 1964, Vol. 87, No. 3, table D-1, p. 370.