Data Dictionary: Census 1980
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Survey: Census 1980
Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Table: T79. Income Type In 1979 [9]
Universe: Households
Table Details
T79. Income Type In 1979
Universe: Households
Relevant Documentation:
Excerpt from: Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; Census of Population and Housing, 1980: Summary Tape File 3 [machine-readable data file] / conducted By the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Washington: Bureau of the Census [producer and distributor], 1982.
Income Type
Classification of income in 1979 by the source from which it was received, ascertained on a sample basis for all persons 15 years old and over with income. See the definition of Income In 1979 for types of receipts which are not counted as income (e.g., tax refunds).

The sum of wage or salary income and net self-employment income from nonfarm and farm sources. Earnings are those sources of income most appropriately interrelated with labor force characteristics such as hours and weeks worked in 1979 or occupation.

Wage or salary income
Total money earnings received for work performed as an employee calendar year 1979. It includes wages, salary, pay from Armed Forces, commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses earned. Sick leave pay is included. Reimbursement for business expenses and payment "in kind" (for example, food, and lodging received as payment for work performed) are excluded.

Nonfarm self-employment income
Net money income (gross receipts minus business expenses) received from an unincorporated nonfarm business, professional enterprise, or partnership in which the person was engaged on his or her own account. Gross receipts include the value of all goods sold and services rendered. Business expenses include cost of goods purchased, rent, heat, light, power, depreciation charges, wages and salaries paid, business taxes (not personal income taxes), etc. The so-called "salary" that some owners of unincorporated businesses pay themselves is included here. On the other hand, income received for working for an incorporated business, even though the person may own the business, is counted under wage or salary income.

Farm self-employment income
Net money income (gross receipts minus operating expenses) received from the operation of an unincorporated farm by a person on his own account, as an owner, renter, or sharecropper. Gross receipts include the value of all products sold, governmental subsidies, money received from the rental of farm equipment to others, and incidental receipts from the sale of wood, sand, gravel, etc. Operating expenses include the cost of fuel, fertilizer, seed, and other farming supplies, cash wages paid to farmhands, depreciation charges, cash rent, interest on farm mortgages, farm building repairs, farm taxes (not Federal, State, and local income taxes), etc. The value of fuel, food, and other farm products used for family living is not included as part of net income.

Income other than earnings
Interest, dividends, royalties, or net rental income
Money received or credited to a person's account as interest from sources such as notes, bonds, deposits in banks and savings and loan associations, credit unions, and posted savings certificates; payments made by corporations and mutual funds to stockholders (excluding profits or losses from the sale of stocks); net royalties such as income from oil, gas, and other mineral rights; from patents, copyrights on literary works, trademarks, formulas; and net rental income received from the rental of property or real estate or from roomers or boarders.

Social Security income
Cash receipts of Social Security pensions, survivors' benefits, permanent disability insurance payments, and special benefit payments made by the Social Security Administration (under the national old-age, survivors, disability, and health insurance programs) before deductions of health insurance premiums. "Medicare" reimbursements are not included nor are payments under the Supplemental Security Income program. Cash receipts of retirement, disability, and survivors' benefit payment; made by the U.S. Government under the Railroad Retirement Act are also included.

Public assistance income
Cash receipts of payments made under the following public assistance programs: aid to families with dependent children, old-age assistance, general assistance, aid to the blind, and aid to the permanently and totally disabled. These payments fire generally labeled "Supplementary Security Income" and, while usually received from the Federal government, may also be received from State or local governments. Separate payments received for hospital or other medical care are excluded from this item.

Income from all other sources
Money income received from sources such as veteran's payments; public or private pensions; periodic receipts from insurance policies or annuities; unemployment insurance benefits; workmen's compensation cash benefits; periodic payments from estates and trust funds; alimony or child support from persons who are not members of the household; receipts for foster child care; net gambling gains; nonservice scholarships and fellowships; and money received for transportation and/or subsistence by persons participating in special governmental training programs. e.g., under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act or Work Incentive Program; and periodic contributions from persons outside the household, e.g., voluntary allotment checks sent by Armed Forces personnel to relatives not living with them.

In most reports, data on income type are limited to (1) the number of households or families with income of a specified type and (2) the mean income of the specified type for the applicable households or families (i.e., aggregate income of the specified type received by persons in households or families divided by the number of households or families with that type of income). In income type tabulations, a household or family may be counted more than once, i.e. for each type of income received, although the dollar amounts of income are counted only once. In one detailed tabulation in PC80-l-D, frequency counts are provided for income intervals as well as a mean for each type. Further, mean total income is provided in addition to mean income of specified type for households, families, and unrelated individuals with income of the specified type. The ratio of those two means will suggest the degree to which, for instance, families receiving Social Security income may also have other major sources of income.

Census basic records show income in $10 intervals for each type of income up to $100,000, except that amounts of $10,000 or more are coded as $9,995 for Social Security or public assistance income. Income amounts of $100,000 to $999,000 are recorded in $1.000 intervals. Income amounts of $l, 000,000 or more are recorded as $999,500. Net losses up to $10,000 are recorded in $10 intervals for nonfarm or farm self-employment income and interest, dividend and net rental income but are not allowed for other income types. Losses of $10,000 or more are coded as $-9995. High incomes of each type are grouped together on public-use microdata, with "$75,000 or more" as a single category, to avoid the identification of individuals.

See the discussion under "Income In 1979."

Historical comparability
See the discussion under "Income In 1979."