Answer (from Flowing Data): $43,000

Questions:

• What does this graph tell you about the distribution of income in the U.S.? 
• What do you think are some of the factors that determine how much income someone earns in a year? 
• The height of the bars gives you a sense of the number of employed people who earn that salary. What do you notice as you move left to right in the graph? 

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Flowing Data):

In the United States, the median annual income among the employed was about $43,000 in 2020. However, by definition, this just tells you where the midpoint is in a distribution. As you probably know, maybe a little too well over the past few years, personal income spans a wide range.

---------------------

Looking for more Questions of the Day? You can find more than 500 in the NGPF QoD Library! 

---------------------

 Looking for other resources for your Career Unit? Here's what the NGPF Search Tool found. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.