The Economy & the Fed

Personal Income and Disposable Income

Personal income is everything households receive in a month: wages and salaries, business profits of the self-employed, interest, dividends, rent, and government benefits such as Social Security. Disposable income is what is left after taxes, the money people can actually spend or save. Both are published monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis in the same report as the PCE price index. “Real” disposable income adjusts for inflation, so it shows whether people’s buying power is growing.

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