Figure A
The U.S. middle class has faced a huge 'inequality tax' in recent decades: Household income of the broad middle class, actual and projected assuming it grew at overall average rate, 1979–2011
| Actual | Projected | |
|---|---|---|
| 1979/01/01 | $ 61,542.17 | $ 61,542.17 |
| 1980/01/01 | $ 59,460.37 | $ 59,579.37 |
| 1981/01/01 | $ 59,210.54 | $ 59,456.53 |
| 1982/01/01 | $ 58,036.98 | $ 59,071.83 |
| 1983/01/01 | $ 57,202.97 | $ 59,479.82 |
| 1984/01/01 | $ 60,446.87 | $ 62,779.71 |
| 1985/01/01 | $ 60,428.61 | $ 63,811.15 |
| 1986/01/01 | $ 62,282.04 | $ 68,495.45 |
| 1987/01/01 | $ 61,406.97 | $ 66,243.89 |
| 1988/01/01 | $ 62,294.60 | $ 69,102.25 |
| 1989/01/01 | $ 63,153.24 | $ 69,773.54 |
| 1990/01/01 | $ 63,356.58 | $ 69,050.00 |
| 1991/01/01 | $ 62,372.76 | $ 67,405.82 |
| 1992/01/01 | $ 62,736.36 | $ 69,303.97 |
| 1993/01/01 | $ 63,537.30 | $ 69,703.89 |
| 1994/01/01 | $ 63,937.79 | $ 70,532.26 |
| 1995/01/01 | $ 65,895.09 | $ 73,271.98 |
| 1996/01/01 | $ 66,618.03 | $ 75,655.23 |
| 1997/01/01 | $ 67,717.28 | $ 78,559.19 |
| 1998/01/01 | $ 70,025.47 | $ 82,314.50 |
| 1999/01/01 | $ 71,827.31 | $ 85,754.07 |
| 2000/01/01 | $ 71,685.32 | $ 87,083.66 |
| 2001/01/01 | $ 71,738.64 | $ 82,561.12 |
| 2002/01/01 | $ 70,107.92 | $ 79,126.24 |
| 2003/01/01 | $ 70,232.82 | $ 80,397.74 |
| 2004/01/01 | $ 72,563.23 | $ 85,031.93 |
| 2005/01/01 | $ 73,700.24 | $ 89,259.28 |
| 2006/01/01 | $ 74,417.13 | $ 91,994.00 |
| 2007/01/01 | $ 76,442.90 | $ 94,310.00 |
| 2008/01/01 | $ 73,539.98 | $ 86,971.41 |
| 2009/01/01 | $ 72,708.64 | $ 82,490.43 |
| 2010/01/01 | $ 72,875.68 | $ 84,737.13 |
| 2011/01/01 | $ 72,036.33 | $ 83,665.79 |
Note: Data show average income of households in the 20th–80th percentile.
Source: EPI analysis of Congressional Budget Office data
Reproduced from Figure I in Raising America’s Pay: Why It’s Our Central Economic Policy Challenge
Source: EPI analysis of data from The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2011, the Congressional Budget Office, 2014.
Reproduced from Figure I in Raising America’s Pay: Why It’s Our Central Economic Policy Challenge, by Josh Bivens, Elise Gould, Lawrence Mishel, and Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute, 2014.
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