The median income of families in the United States was $7,400 in 1966, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. This was about $480, or 7 percent, higher than the revised 1965 figure of about $7,000.¹ The gain in real purchasing power between 1965 and 1966 was only about 4 percent, since prices also rose during this period.²

An estimated 7.0 million families, or 14 percent, of the 48.9 million families in the Nation, received money incomes under $3,000 in 1966. The number of families in this income range declined by approximately 800,000 from the previous year. Another 6.8 million, or 14 percent, received incomes between $3,000 and $5,000 last year; 8.7 million, or 18 percent, had incomes between $5,000 and $7,000; and 11.9 million, or 24 percent, had incomes between $7,000 and $10,000. The remaining 14.5 million families, or 30 percent, received incomes of $10,000 or more.

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¹ A processing error was found in the treatment of income nonresponses in the March 1966 Current Population Survey. Consequently, the 1965 published data contained in P-60, Nos. 49, 50, and 51 reports have been revised. Tables 9 and 10 in this report show a comparison of selected median income figures before and after correction.
² See Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 90, No. 2, February 1967, table D-1, page 117.