People and Their Money - Income And Education

Using the data charted above, taken from the March 2000 Current Population Survey, we attempt to sum up several facts about income in the United States in a single graphic. The data show the average income of males and females by educational attainment in 2000. The light bar shows what the average family income would be if a male and female, in a single-family unit, both worked and had the same education. The graph shows the actual average money income of families headed by a person of a specific educational attainment (the curve).

The first fact that appears is that men consistently earn more than women on average — and this is true even when they are both lawyers or doctors, say, or professors at a university. Women with professional degrees achieved only 55.9% of the income of their male counterparts — quite comparable to women with a 9th to 12th grade education, no diploma, who had 55.4% of men's income with the same qualifications. Women with doctorates came closest to earning the same wages as men — 60.3% of men's income.

Average family income is consistently lower than the combined income of the male and female — strongly suggesting that two adults are working in most families in order to achieve the family's money income, as shown in the following table. The gap between actual family income and the hypothetical male-female combined income grows only as total family income increases — suggesting that those with high incomes have the luxury of choice: one or the other member of the household can stay at home.

Combined Average Male-Female Income and Actual Family Income -2000

Educational Attainment of Householder	Hypothetical combined male-female income	Actual average annual family income	Family income as % of hypothetical combined income
Total	$74,886	$67,038	89.5
Less than 9th grade	34,688	32,730	94.4
9-12, no diploma	42,323	36,706	86.7
High school	55,084	52,255	94.9
Associate degree	67,433	63,275	93.4
Some college	71,336	67,515	94.6
Bachelor's degree	101,624	96,024	94.5
Masters degree	122,250	110,924	90.7
Professional degree	173,346	138,933	80.1
Doctorate	144,804	123,561	85.3

The table is drawn from data on individuals who work and are aged 25 and older. Family data do not specify the sex of the householder. These data clearly exclude retired people and those who are not in the labor force — two categories that often contribute disproportionately to the ranks of the poor.

But the problem of poverty is also clearly highlighted nonetheless. As shown on an earlier panel poverty is most prevalent when the householder is a woman, when there is only one earner in the family unit, and the presence of children add to the cost of the family's maintenance. Families in which the head of household has less than a 9th grade education earned on average $32,730 a year. But a family headed by a single woman would have earned only $12,997.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey "Educational Attainment — Workers 25 Years Old and Over by Mean Earnings and Sex: 1991 to 2000", March 21, 2002, obtained from http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd.