99 years of economic insights for Indiana

The IBR is a publication of the Indiana Business Research Center at IU's Kelley School of Business.

Executive Editor, Carol O. Rogers
Managing Editor, Brittany L. Hotchkiss

Family Income, Earners, and Occupations: An American Community Survey Snapshot of Indiana

Associate Director, Indiana Business Research Center, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

Stop the presses. With the release of the Census Bureau’s 2004 American Community Survey (ACS) data, we had to make space to publish some of the key data relating to families, income, and work.

Median family income rose to $52,627 in 2004, ranking Indiana 26th among the states. This figure was an increase over the $50,889 in 2002 and the $51,338 in 2003, but Indiana's rank on this measure is dropping: 2002: 23rd; 2003: 25th; 2004: 26th. How did Indiana's rank slip even as its median increased? Other states' income increased at a faster pace.

According to the survey, one in six Indiana families (or 272,606 families) have incomes of less than $25,000 a year (see Table 1). These families earn less than half of the 2004 state median family income ($52,627). And of the 272,000 families, 26 percent earn less than $10,000 a year (73,418 families).

Table 1
Family Income by Indiana County, 2004

Table 1

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More survey findings:

  • Professional, financial, and management occupations pay the best in Indiana (see Table 2).
  • Higher education results in higher income (see Table 3).
  • Most Indiana families who make less than the median income fall in the $20,000 to $34,999 range (see Figure 1).
  • Indiana was among 27 other states to fall behind the U.S. median income for 2004 (see Figure 2).

Table 2
Indiana’s Median Earnings by Occupation for Full-Time Workers 16 and Older

Table 2

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Table 3
Indiana’s Median Earnings by Educational Attainment (25 and Older)

Table 3

Figure 1
Percent of Indiana Families with Income Below Median, 2004

Figure 1

Figure 2
Median Family Income, 2004
Figure 2