I was just checking out the Census Bureau Population Report on Households. We are up to about 114M households in the US today, with about 2.55 persons per household. (Read the report if you want to see how they breakdown household compositions.) Of course, another Census Bureau report says we are at 116M households with a average of 2.56 people per household. I’m sure it all depends on what their definition of a household is, related vs non-related, etc.

With the National Debt at about $10,000,000,000,000, that runs to about $87K per household. The $700,000,000,000 bailout Rescue Plan that Congress is reviewing at present would add another $6K to average household debt. The median household income per year is about $50K per year. All that means is the 58M households make less than $50K per year and 58M households make more than $50K per year. So our national debt could be paid off in less than two years if nobody spent any money and just paid down the debt. In the meantime, the operating budget of the US for the next year is budgeted at $3,107,000,000,000, or $27K per household. (that doesn’t include the bailout figures). But US Households will only have to pay ~$19K each, for $2,200,000,000,000; $500,000,000 will be paid by other income sources. (Corporate taxes are expected to gather up to $339,000,000), and the remaining $400,000,000 will be tacked on to the debt. (Good ol’ Republicans, leaving their legacy ever deeper.)

I am finding it very difficult to find an ‘average’ household income. Everyone wants to list the median income. Whether the average is relevant, I am not sure. Incomes in the 5th quintile can be very skewed.