Every three years, the researchers who conduct the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances interview thousands of American families. For the newly published 2013 edition, more than 6,000 families were interviewed regarding their income, savings, investments and debt.
As indicated by writer Neil Irwin, the survey indicates that inflation adjusted incomes rose neatly for the top 10 percent of earners between 2010 and 2013 but rose less than 1 percent for those in the 80 to 90 percentile of earners and declined for all other groups. In total, median family income rose 4.3 percent for the top 20 percent of income earners, but declined 3.5 percent for the bottom 20 percent. Those with a college degree saw their real income rise by 1.1 percent between 2010 and 2013, but those who report a high school degree as their highest form of educational attainment experienced a nearly 6 percent decline in their inflation adjusted income.
Perhaps most remarkably, families headed by a senior citizen, which for these purposes is defined as someone 75 years old or older, fell by nearly 9 percent over the last three years. Younger families also experienced a decline in income, larger because wages have been under pressure for the last several years.
