HBCU Writers's Project
For Immediate Release
April 27, 2012
Contact Information

Brenton L. Hudson
(954) 873-3040
brentonh25@yahoo.com

(BPRW) Median Household Income Gap at $18,000

(BLACK PR WIRE) – The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provides information of an 18 percent split of financial income in America, from the study of Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 to 2007, published October 2011.

Florida residents are unaware of the increasing gap of the financial inequality that affects the income of nearly 60 percent of households in America.

In 2009, the national poverty rate was 14.3 percent and in 2010, the poverty rate increased to 15.3 percent, which equals about 46.2 million American citizens whose household financial income was below the national median household income, according to the United States Census Bureau, Poverty: 2009 and 2010, issued October 2011.

In 2007, household income was at a 5.4 percent decline for Whites, 7.5 percent decline for Asians, 7.2 percent decline for Hispanics, and 10 percent decline for African-Americans. In 2010, household incomes had declined for all races by 7.1 percent, but African-Americans experienced the largest financial decline among all other races, according to Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States--2010, issued September 2011.

The average household income for all races was $49,445 in America. The average household income for Asians was $64,308, Whites were $54,620, Hispanics were $37, 759 and African-Americans were $32,068, according to the graph entitled Race and Hispanic Origin: 1967 to 2010, issued September 2011.

In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau indicated that the highest income was located in the Northeast region of the country with an average household income of about $53,283, followed by household income in the West of $53,142, the Midwest of $48,445, and in the South median household income was $45.492.

From 2007, the Midwest household incomes declined by 8.4 percent, in the West 6.7 percent and in the South 6.3 percent, while in the Northeast there was not a significant change of household incomes, according to Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010.

“I knew it was bad, but did not know it was that bad. I feel like the black community needs to improve on bettering themselves for a better financial outcome,” said Stacey Bratton, a 35-year-old Tallahassee, Florida resident. “The evidence of financial slavery exists in our community and something’s got to change.”

Stefan Rayer, a research demographer at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida, said that the poverty rate in Florida is often higher than the national poverty rate, but lower than other states in the South.