Explaining Analytical Methods
- Report
Reconciling the Official Poverty Measure and CBO’s Distributional Analysis of Household Income
CBO examines how its method for analyzing the distribution of household income differs from the Census Bureau’s method for calculating the official poverty measure. The most important differences stem from what each method counts as income.
- Report
The Distribution of Household Income in 2021
New policies implemented by the federal government affected transfers and taxes in 2021. The policies largely benefited lower- and middle-income households. But income inequality still increased, mainly because of realized capital gains.
- Blog Post
CBO Presents Initial Estimates of Taxpayers by Race and Ethnicity
CBO published initial results of the distribution of income by race and ethnicity in "AEA Papers and Proceedings."
- Report
An Update About How Inflation Has Affected Households at Different Income Levels Since 2019
CBO focused on households’ consumption of a bundle of typical goods and services from 2019 to compare purchasing power in 2019 with that in 2023. On average, purchasing power increased, but the effects of inflation varied by income group.
- Report
The Distribution of Household Income in 2020
In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing federal response had significant effects on the distribution of household income. Income inequality before transfers and taxes increased, but inequality after transfers and taxes decreased.
- Working Paper
Current Work on the Distributional Analysis of Household Income Resulting From Policy Changes: Working Paper 2022-09
This paper introduces a standardized framework to analyze how policy changes alter the distribution of household income to complement CBO’s analyses of policy changes’ budgetary and economic effects.
- Report
How Inflation Has Affected Households at Different Income Levels Since 2019
CBO examines how inflation has affected households at different income levels and compares inflation since 2019 with the growth in household income over the same period.
- Report
The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in 2019
CBO examined how the benefits from major tax expenditures in the individual income tax and payroll tax systems were distributed among households in different income groups in 2019.
- Working Paper
Distributional Effects of Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions With a Carbon Tax: Working Paper 2021-11
This paper describes CBO’s method for measuring the distributional effects of a tax on carbon emissions and the agency’s rationale for choosing that method, while also comparing it with CBO’s prior method and methods used by other researchers.
- Report
The Distribution of Household Income, 2018
In 2018, average household income after accounting for means-tested transfers and federal taxes was $37,700 among households in the lowest quintile and $243,900 among households in the highest quintile.