When the Census Median Numbers Update Next Month...

[BornAgain]

... how does that happen? Are they posted at the DOJ site the same day that they become effective and must be used?

Or do they get posted with some lead time before they must be used?

I'm expecting the median income in my area to go down with the next set of numbers and was planning to file about the middle of the month. Now maybe I think I'll file on the first.

Who's been around long enough to know how this transition occurs?

Thanks for the insight.

[Trixie007]

This has been of interest to me as well. From what I've read, it's unusual for them to adjust the median's downward, but some people are saying if the economy continues this trend, the medians may well go down by the end of next year. I hope they're right and it doesn't happen sooner.

[floridian]

i never thought of that... well, if it goes down due to all the job layoffs in my area, along with my 3% cost of living raise, it should help force me further into a chap 13....
doh!

[BornAgain]

Well here's what I gathered from the DOJ site last night (after posting this question)...

Update_Date........OR_Fam_of_3........Change
------------.......------------.......-------

10-1-08.............58,789...............-897...........23 days warning
3-17-08 ............59,686..................0
2-1-08..............59,686 ............+1,653...........13 days warning
1-1-08..............58,033..................0
10-15-07............58,033.............+2,929
2-1-07..............55,104.............+1,724
10-1-06 ............53,380.............-1,253
2-13-06 ............54,633 ............+1,791
10-17-05............52,842

Looks like it peaked early last year and is on the way down. I think it's reasonable to expect a sharp drop. It's moved $3,000 in the recent past. I bet we could see a bigger one than that.

Edit: Sorry about the poor formatting -- I wanted ot insert a screen capture of an Excel table.

[kenshirley]

So how do you know that it will take place on any given day or month.
They don't seem to have a schedule as near as I can see.
It appears to be random in nature as to when they publish new numbers.
If they change it and it affects us we could move our now schedules filing date up. It's 3/11 right now but we will be ready to file anytime after 3/2.
I hope that we get at least that much warning~but that's only 1 week now!
And currently we are some $3500 under the median for Chapter 7 and it appears that would be a major change for them to make.

[BornAgain]

Well the fall October update sure seems more consistent for our planning benefit than the spring Feb/Mar update date. Government... shouldn't they have to do this on mandated days?? (I wish). At least it looks like we get some (again, random amount) of warning.

[Trixie007]

Well, you show a decrease in Oregon in the median income in Oct 08 - but here in WA, we had an increase of over 2k for that same time period. Actually we're up over 4k since the 1/08 figures. Interesting.

[BornAgain]

New Boeing orders vs. Intel lay-offs? [shrug] ;-)

[BornAgain]

Well here's what I gathered from the DOJ site last night (after posting this question)...

Update_Date........OR_Fam_of_3........Change
------------.......------------.......-------

10-1-08.............58,789...............-897...........23 days warning
3-17-08 ............59,686..................0
2-1-08..............59,686 ............+1,653...........13 days warning
1-1-08..............58,033..................0
10-15-07............58,033.............+2,929
2-1-07..............55,104.............+1,724
10-1-06 ............53,380.............-1,253
2-13-06 ............54,633 ............+1,791
10-17-05............52,842

Looks like it peaked early last year and is on the way down. I think it's reasonable to expect a sharp drop. It's moved $3,000 in the recent past. I bet we could see a bigger one than that.

Edit: Sorry about the poor formatting -- I wanted ot insert a screen capture of an Excel table.

I'll update my table just as soon as the DOJ gets their link working...