PRE-RETIREMENT FAMILY INCOMES
 Retirement income expectations of Southern rural families
were found to be closely related to both amounts and sources
of income received in pre-retirement years, and to total assets
owned. While it was difficult for individuals to make long-range
estimates of family income, one major purpose of this study
was to project probable retirement outlooks from one to 20
years into the future, depending upon the age of the family
head. The projections proposed were not viewed as forecasts,
but rather as reliable tools for public-policy planning.

 Family Incomes
 In 1963, the median incomes of all families in this study
ranged from $1,952 for renters to $3,202 for owners.6 Average
family incomes of white respondents were 120% higher than
those of Negro respondents, or $3,785 to $1,717, respectively
(Table 3). More than three-fourths of the Negro families lived
at poverty levels (under $3,000 annually), as compared to just
over one-third of the whites (Figure 2). In gross numbers,
however, three white families were in poverty for every Negro
family so situated. In general, incomes of both white and Negro
families in Florida were substantially higher than average in-
comes of families in the region. In Florida, but not in the
region, the place of residence and income were also related
(Figure 3).

 Sources of Incomes
 Employment of family heads away from home for wages or
 salaries contributed more to average family incomes than any
 other source of income, or somewhat over 90 per cent of the
 total (Tables 4 and 5). In about 33 per cent of the families the
 husbands only were so employed, as compared to 12 per cent for
 wives only, and to 20 per cent for both husbands and wives.
 Collectively, 53.2 per cent of the husbands and 31.6 per cent of
 the wives were gainfully employed for wages or salaries.
 Although many sources of income contributed to family well-
 being, few families received more than three sources of income.
 'Average family incomes may be as much as 10 to 20 per cent below the
 true values because of certain "no responses" which were treated as
 zero values. A few families declined to provide specific data, such as
 "interest received from cash savings." If all general items, such as
 "income from wages or salaries" were answered, then the reported incomes
 were included as totals in calculating sums and averages.