when median and average amounts of household income are calculated for all u s households the average figure will always exceed the median because of the impact of the small number of u s households with exceptionally high incomes 
example of household incomelet s use a hypothetical example to show how household income works let s say sam earns 120 000 annually from his job as a finance professional his spouse alex earns 80 000 as an analyst together their family income is 200 000 sam s nephew jim also lives with them jim earns 40 000 as a sales rep assuming these figures are their only income their total household income as defined by the census bureau is 240 000 