Furthermore, households inside central cities, in suburbs, and outside metropolitan areas all experienced significant gains in median income. The CPS demographic supplement conducted in March of each year is one of the best known and most widely used of all continuing federal household surveys. For 50 years, analysts, researchers, and policy makers have used the CPS to examine annual changes in income and earnings and to compare them with historical trends. Television, radio, and newspapers frequently draw upon this source for statistics on Americans' jobs, income, poverty status, health insurance coverage, marital status, migration, and other characteristics. The estimates in this report are based on interviewing a sample of the population.
Respondents provide answers to the survey questions to the best of their ability.
As with all surveys the estimates differ from the actual values. Table A presents the confidence intervals for estimates discussed in the text. Real median household income is now at the highest level recorded since the Census Bureau started compiling these estimates in 1967. 1998 is the first year that real median household income surpassed its 1989 pre-recessionary peak. Household income inequality remained unchanged.