You insist on using per capita income for some reason. That means that even in a single earner family, the income is considered to be divided equally among the family members.
If you are a single earner making $160K in a family with two adults and two kids, then when using per capita income you consider all four family members as making $40K each. That’s the definition of per capita.
And that’s why it’s nonsense to say that per capita income of $40K is not enough to afford a house. A family of five with per capita income of $40K would be in the top 10%.
Household income is total family income, regardless of whether there is one earner or more than one. And it’s not tautological. If your household income is very low, then your family may not be able to afford to buy a house.
A household includes all the people who occupy a housing unit (such as a house or apartment) as their usual place of residence.
A household includes the related family members and all the unrelated people, if any, such as lodgers, foster children, wards, or employees who share the housing unit. A person living alone in a housing unit, or a group of unrelated people sharing a housing unit such as partners or roomers, is also counted as a household.
Right, I did forget about renting, but since rent is more or less locked at some percentage of payments on a mortgage, it doesn’t change the point I’m making.
If the household income required to own a house goes up, then the household income required to rent will go up proportionally.
The point is, whether you need 1 income to afford a house, 2 incomes, or more, the ratio of household income to the price of a house will be the same.
Who said they need two incomes?
You insist on using per capita income for some reason. That means that even in a single earner family, the income is considered to be divided equally among the family members.
If you are a single earner making $160K in a family with two adults and two kids, then when using per capita income you consider all four family members as making $40K each. That’s the definition of per capita.
And that’s why it’s nonsense to say that per capita income of $40K is not enough to afford a house. A family of five with per capita income of $40K would be in the top 10%.
Household income is total family income, regardless of whether there is one earner or more than one. And it’s not tautological. If your household income is very low, then your family may not be able to afford to buy a house.
If your family can’t afford to buy a house, then your family doesn’t get counted as a household.
That’s absolutely not true. A household is one or more people who live in a housing unit. They can be homeowners or renters.
Right, I did forget about renting, but since rent is more or less locked at some percentage of payments on a mortgage, it doesn’t change the point I’m making.
If the household income required to own a house goes up, then the household income required to rent will go up proportionally.
The point is, whether you need 1 income to afford a house, 2 incomes, or more, the ratio of household income to the price of a house will be the same.