Income Growth by Party Since 1967

Income Growth for Each Quintile by Party of President

Discussion:

The incomes of every bracket increased at least 2.5 times as fast under Democratic presidents. The income of the bottom 60% of the population decreased slightly since 1967 during the Republican presidencies while it increased at a rate of approximately 1% per year during Democratic presidencies. The top 40% also fared much better under Democrats with people ranked between the 60th and 80th percentiles experiencing 3 times as much income growth per year under Democrats and the income of the top 20% increasing 2.67 times as fast under Democrats.

Over the 27 years of Republican presidencies since 1967, the average income of the bottom three quintiles all fell, with the first and third quintiles falling negligible amounts and the second quintile falling $2,243. (Due to the quirks of compounding, the first and third quintile had a positive average growth and a negative total growth.) During the 19 years of Democratic presidencies, the incomes of the bottom 3 quintiles rose $1,938, $5,721 and $9,450. The fourth quintile's average wages increased by $6,808 under Republicans and $16,327 under Democrats. Lastly, the average income of the top quintile rose $21,833 under Republicans and $54,704 under the Democrats- 2.5 times as much in 2/3 of the time.

Notably, incomes grew significantly more rapidly for the top quintile than any other quintile during the presidencies of both parties. The Republicans' supply side policies presumably play a role in that skew towards the top, but President Clinton also implemented several significant trickle down measures as well.

These results are consistent with the general tendency for the economy to perform significantly better under Democrats.

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Income Growth for Each Quintile by Party of President

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