Accessible Version
Income Declines During COVID-19, Accessible Data
Figure 1. Share of working-age adults in tax units with at least a 10 percent decline in real market income (by prior year income).
Chart plots the share of adults ages 25 to 59 years of age who have a 10 percent decrease in market income as reported in IRS tax data in each year, by their centile in the prior year income distribution. The x-axis shows the prior year income centile. The y-axis shows the share of adults with a market income decline. The figure has three lines showing the share of adults with a large income decline in 2009, 2019, and 2020. All three lines generally decline for most of the distribution before sloping upwards among the top 10 percent, indicating that the frequency of market income declines is decreasing with income until the top centiles. The line in 2020 is the highest from the bottom of the distribution until the 50th centile, and then for top incomes the 2009 line is the highest. The 2019 line is always the lowest. This indicates that individuals with incomes below the 50th percentile were more likely to have large income declines in 2020 than in 2009, but individuals with higher incomes were more likely to have large income declines in 2009. Since the 2019 line is the lowest, this indicates that at all centiles, income declines were less common in 2019 than in either 2009 or 2020.
Notes: Among adults aged 25 to 59. Market income is non-transfer income reported in tax data, where joint married filer incomes are split equally. Income centiles defined based on income after taxes and transfers in year t–1.
Source: Authors’ calculations using IRS data.
Figure 2. Share of working-age adults in tax units with at least a 10 percent decline in real income after taxes and transfers (by prior year income).
Chart plots the share of adults ages 25 to 59 years of age who have a 10 percent decrease in income after taxes and transfers as reported in IRS tax data in each year, by their centile in the prior year income distribution. The x-axis shows the prior year income centile. The y-axis shows the share of adults with an income decline after taxes and transfers. The figure has three lines showing the share of adults with a large income decline in 2009, 2019, and 2020. The 2009 and 2019 lines generally decline for most of the distribution before sloping upwards among the top 10 percent, indicating that the frequency of market income declines is decreasing with income until the top centiles. The 2020 line is under 10 percent for the bottom centiles before increasing around the 5th centile to 20 percent and then being relatively flat until the top centiles where it increases. The 2020 line is also the lowest of the three lines until the 85th centile. This indicates that individuals with incomes below the 85th percentile were less likely to have large income declines after taxes and transfers in 2020 than in either 2009 or 2020.
Notes: Among adults aged 25 to 59. Income after taxes and transfers is market income plus UI, stimulus checks, other reported transfers, and refundable credits and less net individual income taxes, where joint married filer incomes are split equally. Income centiles defined based on income after taxes and transfers in year t–1.
Source: Authors’ calculations using IRS data.