This report is the second publication of data on the distributions of the population by income level in 1945. The data are based on an inquiry conducted by the Bureau of the Census in April, 1946, as part of the Current Population Survey. Summary tables based on the same inquiry, and some comparative data for 1944 and 1939, were included in an earlier report, "Family and Individual Money Income in the United States: 1945 and 1944," Series P-S, No. 22, issued May 8, 1947.¹ Since the estimates are based on a sample, they are subject to sampling variability. The smaller figures, as well as small differences between figures, should be used with particular care, as explained in the section on reliability of estimates. Nevertheless, the relationships revealed by the data should be useful for analytical purposes. The nature of some of these relationships is indicated by the following paragraphs which give brief comments relating to the several tables.

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¹ Data relating to wage and salary income in 1939 have been presented in the following Sixteenth Census Reports on Population: "Families: Size of Family and Age of Head"; "Families: Family Wage or Salary Income in 1939"; "Families: General Characteristics"; "Families: Characteristics of Rural-Farm Families"; "Families: Tenure and Rent"; "Families: Income and Rent"; "The Labor Force (Sample Statistics): Wage or Salary Income in 1939"; and "Vol. III, The Labor Force." In addition, special reports have been published: "Per Capita Income in Wage-Earner Families, by Size of Family: 1939", Series P-44, No. 19, September 8, 1944; and "Educational Attainment by Wage or Salary Income: 1940", Series P-46, No. 5, June 18, 1946.