America's Highest Earners Are Bouncing Back Nicely

The mean incomes for all U.S. income brackets are still below 2007 levels according to the Federal Reserve's Survey of Consumer Finances.

The Fed broke down the income brackets into three groups: the bottom 50%, the next 40%, and the top 10%.

From 2007 to 2010 all three groups saw mean incomes decrease. The downwards trend continued for the bottom 50% for the next three years, and the next 40% saw no significant change in either direction.

While the top 10% continue to have incomes at lower levels than what they had in 2007, they saw a sharp surge from 2010 to 2013.

Here's the graph:

The report also revealed the relationship between the median and mean incomes. In real terms, median income rose "steadily" from 1992 to 2007, fell from 2007 to 2010, and fell again from 2010 to 2013.

On the other hand, mean income grew at a faster pace than median income since 1989. And every year mean income is above median income, which "reflects the concentration of income in the top of the income distribution", according to the video.

The mean then rebounded from 2010 to 2013, but you can see that the median continued to decline.

You can watch a video of the report here.