29% Have Funds Left After Basics

Nearly one American household in three has money left after paying taxes and normal household expenditures, the Census Bureau reported today.

This “discretionary income” was reported for 28.9% of all households as of March, 1987, the agency said. That’s slightly better than the 28.3% of households reporting discretionary income four years earlier.

And those households with discretionary income also had more money left in 1987 than in 1983, with the spending money rising from $11,032 to $12,332 over that period.

The report credited better economic times and the increasing number of working wives.