The middle-class American family saw the largest income boost on record last year
In 2015, the median household earned $56,500, adjusted for inflation, according to
the US Census Bureau (pdf). In real terms, that’s equal to a $2,800 rise compared with 2014’s median household income—growth of more than 5%.
Of course, this likely won’t influence Donald Trump much given that the GOP nominee just said the information we get about the
US economy is a sham. Plus, his supporters tend to
feel more economic anxiety, even though they’re generally better off than non-supporters.
For everyone else, though, today’s data suggest that America isn’t quite the hellhole of drudgery that Trump insists it is.
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See? It's not really the economy when Republicans, who are 90% white, are talking about when they say the country is dying. When they say "take our country back", it's really about "race"
Hold it right there, Princess. The loony left brigade has been whining about the plight of the poor, downtrodden middle class for years here. Now the same loony left boasts that the avg mid-classer is not only making strides (without union help) but is making over $56,000/yr?
WTF? So which is it? Are they just the slaves of the elite or a vibrant, productive, fairly-paid part of the American economic fabric?
Sigh. No one said "average".
Median vs. Average
The median of a set of numbers is that number where half the numbers are lower and half the numbers are higher. In the case of real estate, that means that the median is the price where half the homes sold that month were cheaper, and half were more expensive.
The average of a set of numbers is the total of those numbers divided by the number of items in that set. The median and the average might be close and they might not.
It all depends on the numbers.
Example:
Here are 11 fictional home prices.
- $100,000
- $101,000
- $102,000
- $103,000
- $104,000
- $105,000
- $106,000
- $107,000
- $650,000
- $1,000,000
- $3,000,000
The median price of these 11 homes is $105,000. Five homes were lower priced and five homes were higher priced.
The average price of these 11 homes is $498,000. That's what you get if you add up all those prices and divide by 11.
What a difference! When you are looking at home prices, make sure you know whether the numbers are averages or medians. Both numbers provide good information, but they have different implications.
Median and Average are the Same Things, Right?
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Consider this a "teaching moment".