Sources: Saez
Data: Excel
Last updated: March 16, 2016
Income Growth in the United States by Bracket Between 1980 and 2013
Description: The graph shows the percentage by which the average real family income of each bracket changed between 1980 and 2013. Note that this comparison is between the average income of the members of each tier. The membership of each tier would have changed during that time. The numbers reflect real household income before taxes excluding in-kind and government transfers.
Related blog post: Inequality in America
Discussion: The higher income brackets saw drastic growth in their income while the bottom 90% of us actually saw our real income decline from 1980 until 2013. The average income of the bottom 90% of us fell 5% from $33,478 to $31,652. The average household income of every other bracket rose. The average income of the next 9% rose from 42% from $126k to $178k. The average income of the bottom nine tents of the top 1% rose 94%, up to $657k. The bottom nine tenths of the top 0.1% saw its average income rise 183% to just over $3 million/year, and the average income of the top 0.01% rose a stunning 325% to nearly $25 million per year.
This data is drawn from an update that Professor Emmanuel Saez released to data accompanying a paper published by himself and Thomas Piketty entitled Income Inequality in the United States, 1913-2002 (2004). The data can be found at the link to the left.
This chart shows the change in each bracket's absolute real income. You can also see the change in each bracket's share of the nation's income here.
You can also see how the income growth differed during Republican and Democratic administrations here.
See more graphs about: Income Inequality
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