Chapter 5 – Income

The Census Bureau collects income of individuals in households using a series of categories, like wages, business, interest, rentals, and so forth.  The individual incomes are compiled, but the Census also com-bines the individual incomes into household and family incomes, and usually provides mean (average) income as well as median income (that income where half the category is richer and have poorer than that amount.

The median household income in 2009 (last full year before the 2010 census) was $19,958 and the mean income was $31,463.  The mean was higher because some households made much more money than av-erage, and so brought the average amount up.  The median household income for Saipan was about $400 less, at about $19,600, while the median household incomes for Rota and Tinian were $23,125 and $24,470 respectively.  The median household income for Saipan’s District 5 was much higher than the others, at $27,200.  The median household income for District 4 was 24,700, followed by District 1 ($19,400), District 3 ($18,800), and District 2 ($15,700).

The median household income, adjusted for inflation, decreased from $29,500 in 1999 to $20,000 in 2009.  The inflation adjustment is from the U.S. and so might not be completely appropriate for the CNMI.  All three islands saw very significant dips in their household incomes under this measure. But, the CNMI household income decreased from 1999 to 2009 even without considering inflation, from $22,900 to the aforementioned $20,000.

Although the Census collects income in a series of categories, our tables show the largest four: earnings, social security, supplemental social security, and retirement.  The median household earnings in 2009 was $29,000.