This is defined as the total money earnings received for work performed as an employee. It includes wages, salary, pay from Armed Forces, commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses earned.

This is defined as net money income (gross receipts minus operating expenses) from a business, farm, or professional enterprise in which the person was engaged on his own account. Gross receipts include the value of all goods sold and services rendered. Expenses include the costs of goods purchased, rent, heat, light, power, depreciation charges, wages and salaries paid, business taxes, etc.

This includes money income received from sources other than wages or salary and self-employment, such as net income (or loss) from rents or receipts from roomers or boarders; royalties; interest, dividends, and periodic income from estates and trust funds; Social Security benefits; pensions; veterans' payments, military allotments for dependents, unemployment insurance, and public assistance or other governmental payments; and periodic contributions for support from persons who are not members of the household, alimony, and periodic receipts from insurance policies or annuities.
This report presents information on income for persons 65 years old and over classified by sex and family status. Data are also presented on income for families in which the head or the wife is 65 years old and over, cross-classified by the combined income of the head and his wife, the income of the head, and the income of relatives (other than wife) 65 years old and over. In the statistics on family Income, the combined incomes of all members of each family are treated as a single amount; whereas in the statistics on the income of unrelated individuals and in those on the income of persons 65 years old and over the classification is by the amount of their own income. Although the time period covered by the income statistics is the calendar year 1959, the characteristics' of persons and the composition of families refer to the time of enumeration. Thus, the income of the family does not include amounts received by persons who were members of the family during all or part of the calendar year 1959 if these persons no longer resided with the family at the time of the interview. On the other hand, family income includes amounts reported by related persons who did not reside with the family during 1959 but who were members of the family at the time of enumeration. For most of the families, however, the income reported was received by persons who were members of the family throughout 1959-

In 1950, information on income similar to that requested in 1960 was obtained from a 20-percent sample of persons 14 years old and over. If the sample person was the head of a family, the income questions were repeated for the other family members as a group in order to obtain the income of the whole family. In 1960, however, separate income data were requested for each person 14 years old and over in the sample.

In tabulating family income for the 1950 Census, when only the head's income was reported, the assumption was made that there was no other income in the family. In the 1960 Census, all nonrespondents on income (whether heads of families or other persons) were assigned the reported income of persons with similar demographic characteristics.

A comparison of the income distributions of families with head 65 years old and over for the United States from the 1960 Census and from the March 1960 CPS is shown in table A. The CPS distribution excludes families for which complete income information was not reported, whereas the census distribution includes nonrespondents, with their income estimated on the basis of known demographic, social, and economic characteristics.

Table A. Percent Distribution of Families with Head 65 Years Old and Over, By Family Income in 1959, According To 1960 Census and To March 1960 Current Population Survey

Family income	Census	CPR	Percentage point difference
Total	100.0	100.0	…
Under $3,000	48.4	52.9	4.5
$3,000 to $4,999	20.2	39.6	-0.6
$5,000 to $6,999	12.7	12.8	0.1
$7,000 to $9,999	9.5	8.2	-1.3
$10,000 and over	9.2	6.4	-2.8

The differences at the extremes of the distributions as shown above are larger than would be expected from the standpoint of Sampling Variability. A number of studies are now being made which may help in explaining these differences, including, for example, a study of matched questionnaires for persons who were enumerated in both the March 1960 CPS and the 1960 Census.

For several reasons, the income data shown in this report are not directly comparable with those which may be obtained from statistical summaries of income tax returns. Income, as defined for tax purposes, differs somewhat from the concept used by the Bureau of the Census. For example, certain types of receipts such as veterans' payments, Social Security benefits, and relief payments, which constitute the main income source for some families, are excluded from income tax coverage. Moreover, the coverage of income tax statistics is less inclusive because persons receiving less than $600 (less than $1,200, if 65 years old or over) are not required to file returns. Furthermore, some income tax returns are filed as separate returns and others as joint returns; and, consequently, the income reporting unit is not consistently either a family or a person.