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FTOTINC
Total family income
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Description

FTOTINC reports the total pre-tax money income earned by one's family (as defined by FAMUNIT) from all sources for the previous year. For the census samples, the reference period is the previous calendar year; for the ACS/PRCS, it is the previous 12 months.

For 1950-1980, the amounts represent the midpoints of $10, $100, or other intervals used by each year's sample, not exact dollar amounts. 1990 gives exact dollar amounts. For the 2000 census, the ACS and the PRCS, FTOTINC is the sum of several income variables, each of which is rounded as follows:

No income $0
 $1 - $7   $4
 $8 - $999   rounded to nearest $10
 $1,000 - $49,999   rounded to nearest $100
 $50,000 or more   rounded to nearest $1000

Amounts are expressed in contemporary dollars, and users studying change over time must adjust for inflation (See INCTOT for Consumer Price Index adjustment factors). The exception is the ACS/PRCS multi-year files, where all dollar amounts have been standardized to dollars as valued in the final year of data included in the file (e.g., 2007 dollars for the 2005-2007 3-year file). Additionally, more detail may be available than exists in the original ACS samples.

User Note: ACS respondents are surveyed throughout the year, and amounts do not reflect calendar year dollars. While the Census Bureau provides an adjustment factor (available in ADJUST), this is an imperfect solution. See the ACS income variables note for further details.