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For the country as a whole, the average (median) income of families in 1962 was about $6,000, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce. This average was about $220, or 4 percent, higher than in 1961, reflecting the improvement in the economy throughout 1962. Since 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
Average family income in current dollars has doubled in the postwar period (from $3,000 in 1947 to $6,000 in 1962). However, consumer prices have risen substantially during this period so that only about three-fifths of the increase in current-dollar incomes represented an increase in real income. In terms of constant (1962) dollars, average family income increased from $4,100 in 1947 to about $6,000 in 1962, a rise that averaged approximately $120 a year over this period.
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1 See Monthly Labor Review, March 1963, Vol. 86, No. 3, table D-1, page 358.
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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