In 2014, household income was unevenly distributed: Households at the top of the income distribution received significantly more income than households at the bottom of the distribution. According to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates:
- Average income among households in the lowest quintile (or fifth) of the income distribution was about $19,000 (see Summary Figure 1).
- Average income among households in the highest quintile was about $281,000.
Furthermore, within the highest quintile, income was highly skewed toward the very top of the distribution: Average income among households in the bottom half of the highest quintile (the 81st to 90th percentiles) was about $151,000; average income among the 1.2 million households in the top 1 percent of the distribution was about $1.8 million...
Means-tested transfers and federal taxes cause household incomes to be more evenly distributed. In 2014, those transfers and taxes:
- Increased income among households in the lowest quintile by $12,000 (or more than 60 percent), on average, to $31,000.
- Decreased income among households in the highest quintile by $74,000 (or more than 25 percent), on average, to $207,000
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