Median Adjusted Gross Incomes by Tax Filling Status

Sometimes, as we work on our various projects, we stumble across data that's kind of interesting in and of itself.

To that end, today's example of that would appear to provide more evidence that social factors have more to do with the perceived rise in income inequality in the United States over time than do economic factors:

In the chart above, we've presented the median adjusted gross incomes we've estimated for 2009's income tax filers according to their tax filing status. The number in parentheses below each column in the chart indicates the number of tax returns filed in 2009 for each group.

It would seem that just marital status has a lot to do with the observed differences between the various kinds of income tax filers.

Data Source

U.S. Internal Revenue Service Statistics of Income Division. 2009 Individual Complete Report (Publication 1304), Table 1.2. [Excel Spreadsheet]. Accessed 2 January 2012.