Blacks’ Earnings Up in ‘80s, Lag Other Groups’ Income : Census: Median figure for African-American families rose 84% to $19,758. White households lead report with $31,435.

Black family incomes grew during the 1980s, but they still fell well below Americans in general, Census figures released Friday show.

A set of minority economic profiles released by the Census Bureau show that black households had a median income of $19,758 at the time of the 1990 census, up 84% from 1980. During that period, white median household incomes climbed 68%, but at $31,435 were still ahead of blacks and Latinos.

Median incomes of all Latino households climbed 77% during the decade to $24,156 in 1990, the report showed.

And the median income figure for all households was $30,056, a 75% rise over 10 years. Median income means half of all households brought in more than that amount and half less.

The report concentrating on minorities also showed that Asian households had the top overall incomes at $36,784. The figure for American Indian households was $20,025. Comparable figures for 1980 were not available.

The profiles also addressed educational attainment and the share of Americans in poverty. The findings included:

* Some 29.5% of blacks were below the poverty level in 1990 compared to 13.1% of Americans in general. Poverty rates were 9.8% for whites, 30.9% among American Indians, 14.1% for Asians and 25.3% of Latinos.

* The age group with the highest poverty rate among blacks was children under age 5, with 44% living in poverty. There was a 33.4% poverty rate for Latino children under 5 and the rate for that age group was 17.5% for Asians, 44.4% for American Indians, 13.8% for whites and 20.1% for Americans overall.

* The 1990 Census found that among blacks aged 25 and over, 63.1% had finished high school and 11.4% had completed college. Comparable figures were 77.9% finishing high school and 21.5% completing college among whites.

Among American Indians, 65.5% had finished high school and 9.3% college, Asians had a 77.5% high school and 36.6% college rate, while among Latinos 49.8% had completed high school and 9.2% college.