The colon is used to separate two independent clauses when the second explains or illustrates the first. In such usage, the colon functions in much the same way as the semicolon. As with the semicolon, do not capitalize the first word after the colon unless the word is ordinarily capitalized.
The median household income in 2014 was $53,719, which means that half of American households make less than this amount, and half make more. Since the median is significantly below the average, it tells us that there are more households with below-average household income than above-average, and that the average is distorted by a small percentage of high-income households.
The average US income is a less useful measure because it is skewed by high income households and mega income earners. According to Social Security tax records for 2011 you have 93 Americans making more than $50,000,000 with average earnings of $79,000,000+.ccording to this information 151 million Americans earned some sort of wages or compensation in 2011. The median wage in the US per person is $26,695. This tells us a lot since the median household income is at $50,500. Since the Census data looks at households, this data hones in on individual wage earners.