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Median income of the Nation's families went above $10,000 in 1971 for the first time in U.S. history, according to the most recent estimates of the Bureau of the Census, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Social and Economic Statistics Administration.
Of the 53.3 million families in the United States in March 1972, 27.6 million or 51.7 percent received income of $10,000 or more in 1971. There were 9.9 million (18.5 percent) with incomes between $7,000 and $10,000; 6.0 million families (11.2 .percent) with incomes between $5,000 and $7,000; and 9.8 million families (18.5 percent) with incomes below $5,000 in 1971.
The 1971 median family income of $10,290 was 4.2 percent higher than the 1970 median of $9,870. However, because of price rises, 1971 income was about the same as 1970 income in terms of constant dollars.1
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1 See Monthly Labor Review, April 1972, U.S. Department of Labor, table 24, page 96.
Census statistics date back to 1790 and reflect the growth and change of the United States. Past census reports contain some terms that today’s readers may consider obsolete and inappropriate. As part of our goal to be open and transparent with the public, we are improving access to all Census Bureau original publications and statistics, which serve as a guide to the nation's history.
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