Footnotes

CHARACTERISTICS OF INCOME GROUPS

Four income groups are used in this analysis: the poor, lower middle, upper middle, and well off. Families and individuals were defined as poor if their incomes fell below certain levels. The levels varied with size of the family and were based on the U.S. government's definition of poor and near poor for 1972. In this study, the average income of poor households was $2,500.

The lower middle group includes all the nonpoor whose income was under $12,000 in 1972. (The average income of the lower middle households was about $8,000.) The upper middle group includes those with incomes between $12,000 and $15,999 in 1972, and the well off are those with incomes of $16,000 or more. The average income of upper middle households was $14,000, and of the well off, $24,500. The poor, upper middle, and well off each comprise about one-fifth of all households; the lower middle about two-fifths.

The average household surveyed had three persons. Poor and lower middle income households were somewhat smaller, averaging 2.6 persons. Upper middle households averaged about 3.5 persons, and the well off 3.6 persons. The smaller households of the poor and lower middle groups are reflections of the life cycle position of the household heads. Disproportionately many are 65 or over and living alone (Table 5-2).

When the household head is under 45, poor and lower middle households are less likely than others to have children. Husband-wife households were least common among the poor, almost half of whom are elderly, and most common among the well off. The poor are the most likely to have no earners and the least likely to have two or more earners. The reverse is true of the well off.

The likelihood of the household head's being a professional or manager, having a college degree, owning a home, and owning property other than a home all rise with income. In general, the lower middle group is more like the poor, and the upper middle group is more like the well off (Table 5-2).