Income of the Aged Chartbook, 2004

 
Percentage receiving income from specified source, 2004
Source of income Percent
Social Security 89
Asset income 55
Retirement benefits other than Social Security 41
Public and private 2
Public only 12
Private only 27
Earnings 24
Public assistance 4
Veterans' benefits 4
 
Percentage of aged beneficiary units receiving Social Security benefits, by relative importance of benefits to total income, 2004
Percent All beneficiary units Beneficiary married couples Nonmarried beneficiaries
50% or more of income 66 54 74
90% or more of income 34 21 43
100% of income 21 11 29
 
Percentage receiving income from earnings and pensions, by age, 2006
Age Earnings Private pensions Public pensions
65–69 44 27 15
70–74 28 30 15
75–79 16 30 15
80 or older 7 30 13
 
Percentage receiving income from major sources, by race and Hispanic origin, 2006
Major source of income White alone Black alone Hispanic
Social Security 91 83 76
Asset income 59 26 23
Pensions 43 28 20
Earnings 24 21 21
SSI 3 10 13
 
Percentage receiving income from major sources, selected years
Year Social Security Pensions Asset income Earnings Cash public assistance
1962 69 18 54 36 13
1967 86 22 50 27 12
1971 87 23 49 31 10
1976 89 31 56 25 11
1978 90 32 62 25 10
1980 90 34 66 23 10
1982 90 35 68 22 8
1984 91 38 68 21 9
1986 91 40 67 20 7
1988 92 42 68 22 7
1990 92 44 69 22 7
1992 92 45 67 20 7
1994 91 42 67 21 6
1996 91 41 63 21 6
1998 90 43 63 21 5
2000 90 41 59 22 5
2001 91 40 58 22 5
2002 90 41 55 22 5
2004 89 41 55 24 4
 
Percentage with various levels of income, 2004
Income (dollars) Percent
Less than 5,000 5
5,000 to 9,999 13
10,000 to 14,999 18
15,000 to 19,999 13
20,000 to 24,999 10
25,000 to 29,999 7
30,000 to 34,999 6
35,000 to 39,999 5
40,000 to 44,999 4
45,000 to 49,999 3
50,000 or more 17
 
Percentage with various levels of income, by receipt of asset income, 2004
Income (dollars) With asset income Without asset income
Less than 10,000 7 32
10,000 to 19,999 25 37
20,000 to 29,999 20 14
30,000 or more 48 16
 
Median income, by receipt of earnings and retirement benefits, 2004
Receipt of retirement benefits With earnings With no earnings
No retirement benefits 40,000 0
One retirement benefit type 37,740 12,672
Two retirement benefit types 53,249 26,936
NOTE: Retirement benefit types are Social Security, Railroad Retirement, government pension, and private pension or annuity.
Median income, by marital status, sex of nonmarried persons, race, and Hispanic origin, 2004
  Income (dollars)
Marital status  
Married couples 34,900
Nonmarried men 17,611
Nonmarried women 13,151
Race  
White alone 21,699
Black alone 12,503
Hispanic 12,133
 
Constant (2004) dollar median income, by marital status and race, selected years
Year Couples Nonmarried White Black
1962 19,192 7,543 -- --
1967 20,359 7,883 11,480 8,112
1971 26,671 10,199 16,158 9,423
1976 27,955 11,905 17,503 10,594
1978 29,251 12,090 18,428 10,049
1980 29,408 11,695 18,154 9,933
1982 31,608 12,284 19,742 9,986
1984 33,471 12,981 21,266 10,614
1986 34,747 13,207 21,668 10,945
1988 34,603 13,510 22,353 10,741
1990 36,020 14,109 22,431 10,777
1992 34,223 13,728 21,588 10,724
1994 34,069 14,154 21,699 11,934
1996 35,905 14,522 21,784 12,398
1998 37,322 14,860 23,444 11,643
2000 36,513 14,886 23,169 14,439
2001 37,101 14,793 22,759 14,080
2002 36,375 14,781 22,529 13,447
2004 37,246 14,940 23,158 13,344
NOTE: -- = not available.
Shares of aggregate income for the lowest and highest income quintiles, by source, 2004
Source of aggregate income Percentage of
aggregate income
for lowest quintile		 Percentage of
aggregate income
for highest quintile
Social Security 82.6 18.9
Earnings 1.2 40.1
Pensions 3.5 21.2
Asset income 2.3 17.8
Public assistance 8.4 0.1
Other 2.0 2.0
NOTES: The quintile limits for aged units for 2004 are $10,399, $16,363, $25,587, and $44,129.
Shares of aggregate income, by source, selected years (in percent)
Year Social Security Pensions Asset income Earnings Other
1962 31 9 16 29 15
1967 34 12 15 29 10
1976 39 16 18 23 4
1978 38 16 19 23 4
1980 39 16 22 19 4
1982 39 15 25 18 3
1984 38 15 28 16 3
1986 38 16 26 17 3
1988 37.9 17.5 24.8 17.0 2.8
1990 36.4 18.3 24.5 17.7 3.1
1992 39.5 19.6 20.6 17.1 3.2
1994 42.1 18.7 17.6 18.0 3.6
1996 40.3 18.5 18.0 20.0 3.2
1998 37.6 18.7 19.9 20.7 3.1
2000 38.4 18.0 17.5 23.1 3.0
2001 38.6 18.1 16.1 24.4 2.8
2002 39.4 19.0 13.6 24.9 3.1
2004 38.6 19.7 12.6 26.3 2.7
 
Poverty status, by marital status, sex of nonmarried persons, race, and Hispanic origin, 2004 (in percent)
Sex, marital status, race, or Hispanic origin Poor Near poor
Married persons 4.5 3.6
Nonmarried men 13.1 9.6
Nonmarried women 17.4 10.8
White alone 8.3 6.1
Black alone 23.9 11.2
Hispanic 18.7 11.3
 
Poverty status, by age, 2004 (in percent)
Age Poor Near poor
65–69 9.2 4.6
70–74 9.6 5.7
75–79 9.1 7.4
80 or older 11.3 9.1