2010 U.S. Census Survey: Income by Ethnicity and Gender

by Ben Lorica (last updated Sep/2011)

Using data from the 2010 Census (Current Population Survey, released in Sep/2011), I've created a series of bar charts for the distribution of income by Gender and Ethnic group.
  • The precise datasets I used were HINC-06 (households) and PINC-11 (person).

  • Each chart below gives the income distribution by group => for each color (male/female/household) the total of the bars is 100%.

  • Poverty threshold: For 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau set the threshold at $11,139 for one person and $22,314 for a family of four.

  • Share of Households with Income less than $20,000 => ALL Households (19.9%), White Households (17.9%), Hispanic Households (24.4%), Black Households (32.9%), Asian Households (15%).

  • Share of Households with Income above $250,000 => ALL Households (2.1%), White Households (2.3%), Hispanic Households (0.75%), Black Households (0.6%), Asian Households (3.36%). Given current proposals to raise marginal tax rates for those earning above $250,000 it's worth keeping these numbers in mind.

  • Use the drop-down menu to toggle between ethnic groups1. (To simultaneously compare ethnic groups, see dot plots below.)

    • 2010 Census: Percent of Persons & Households with given Annual Income
    [ for any color (male/female/household), sum of bars = 100% ]

    Next are a series of Dot Plots that let you compare income distribution across ethnic groups. I find dot plots to be space efficient in that you can compare distributions across multiple groups on the same set of axes. Attempting something similar with bar charts would require something akin to Trellis Charts.

    A quick glance (at the Dot Plot for households) reveals that a larger fraction of Asian Households have income of at least $100,00 -- 31.7%, compared to 21.6% for Whites, 11.4% for Hispanics, 9.7% for Blacks.

    You can use the drop-down menu to select income distributions for Households, Males, or Females.

    2010 Census: Percent of Persons & Households (within a given group) with given Annual Income
    [ for any color (All/White/Black/Hispanic/Asian), sum of Dots = 100% ]

    Related resources:

  • U.S. Income Inequality: Share of Top Earners (1917-2010)

  • U.S. Federal Income Tax Rates (1913 - 2011)
    • (1) Survey limited to people 15 years and over as of March of the following year. For Whites/Asians/Blacks I used numbers reported under White/Black/Asian A.O.I.C. (A.O.I.C. stands for "alone or in combination").

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