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Sounds about average for the times. The daughter in law may be the only one without a manual labor job but it's not like the son married into high society or anything. A secretarial job for a woman was pretty common in 1940, before WWII.
So far, of the ancestors I've found, their incomes have ranged from $900 to $2,800. Annoyingly though, one of the records doesn't list their income at all! The wife had given the info and her husband's income is left blank while her son's says "doesn't know". So I'm assuming since it's blank, she also didn't know her husband's income. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - she was a full time alcoholic and would sell off her belongings for "gin money". I would not be surprised if the men of the house kept all financial matters away from her.
In those days it was quite common for a wife to have no clue what her husband made, whether she was alcoholic or not! Even in the 1950's my mother didn't know what Dad made - in her view she didn't need to. Dad gave her housekeeping money (in cash) each week and if she needed more she asked. It wasn't until some time after I left home (in 1966) that Mum got her own cheque book and her own bank account (with Dad's money) - by which time they were fairly comfortably off.
After some digging, I found my mom's family. To my surprise and for reasons I don't know not all the towns were listed in the drop down option for her county and it was too populous to browse! So I looked at ED information from 1930. Then I remembered they had moved from 1930 to 1940 so knew that was no good. I thought about it and did a 1930 search for one of my mom's schoolmates. Found his ED and that lead to the correct one, next to it. Sherlock Holmes hasn't got anything on genealogists.
The US government is offereing the 1940 census free to the public "in perpetuity." After all, tax dollars paid for it.
Some others have posted some helpful information about it as well. Thanks for that, everyone. I'm learning.
The US government "sells" its information ... at its supposed cost. If it were microfilm, you'd pay. Digitizing and posting it on the internet doesn't have a cost (other than labor, which I think the government is happy to pay ... up those employment figures), so it doesn't.
In those days it was quite common for a wife to have no clue what her husband made, whether she was alcoholic or not! Even in the 1950's my mother didn't know what Dad made - in her view she didn't need to. Dad gave her housekeeping money (in cash) each week and if she needed more she asked. It wasn't until some time after I left home (in 1966) that Mum got her own cheque book and her own bank account (with Dad's money) - by which time they were fairly comfortably off.
Well, apparently not in my family. I have found 4 other 1940 census records, all the info was provided by the wife and all of them knew their husband's income. Only this one didn't. In fact, even looking over my ancestor's neighbors on the same sheet, a lot of the info was provided by wives and they all could provide their husband's income. Not saying it's unheard of for a wife to be left in the dark just because she's a woman but given the evidence of the particular locations my ancestors were from, it seems more common for the wife to at least have an idea.
After some digging, I found my mom's family. To my surprise and for reasons I don't know not all the towns were listed in the drop down option for her county and it was too populous to browse! So I looked at ED information from 1930. Then I remembered they had moved from 1930 to 1940 so knew that was no good. I thought about it and did a 1930 search for one of my mom's schoolmates. Found his ED and that lead to the correct one, next to it. Sherlock Holmes hasn't got anything on genealogists.
After some digging, I found my mom's family. To my surprise and for reasons I don't know not all the towns were listed in the drop down option for her county and it was too populous to browse! So I looked at ED information from 1930. Then I remembered they had moved from 1930 to 1940 so knew that was no good. I thought about it and did a 1930 search for one of my mom's schoolmates. Found his ED and that lead to the correct one, next to it. Sherlock Holmes hasn't got anything on genealogists.
Ancestry.com has a tool that converts 1930 districts to their 1940 equivalent. They also have a cross street search. Both are powered by: Unified 1940 Census ED Finder
The family I found ... distantly related. What I enjoyed most was knowing how much money they made. There was the adult couple, and then a married son and his wife.
The father was a laborer for the water company, and made $1,240.
The wife was a laundress, and made $900.
The son was a machinist on a railroad, and made $940.
The daughter-in-law was a secretary to a lawyer, and made $1,200.
Looks like the son married well!!!
Interesting, I hadn't really looked at the salaries before
My great-grandfather was a motor-man for a coal mine and made $1100 working 32 weeks. His wife did not work. Their 18-yr-old daughter was a clerk in a store and made $600 working 52 weeks. Their 15-yr-old daughter was a maid at a private house and made just $60 working 12 weeks. Luckily their rent was only $11!
My dad's other grandparents, neither of them worked. His grandfather is listed as "unable to work" and his wife stayed at home. None of the kids worked either. Rent was $10. They lived on a farm. I have no idea what they did to survive. I need to ask my grandmother......
The US government "sells" its information ... at its supposed cost. If it were microfilm, you'd pay. Digitizing and posting it on the internet doesn't have a cost (other than labor, which I think the government is happy to pay ... up those employment figures), so it doesn't.
*sigh* Digitizing information doesn't happen by magic. The labor and equipment to do so is paid for by taxpayers. When the government is "happy to pay" for something, that *means* it comes out of taxpayers' pockets! Please just ignore my posts in future, EnricoV. Just put me on your ignore list, would you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by PA2UK
Ancestry.com has a tool that converts 1930 districts to their 1940 equivalent. They also have a cross street search. Both are powered by: Unified 1940 Census ED Finder
Thanks, yes, I've used the Unified site. You have to know the 1930 ED first, right? I like the idea of a cross street search. I may check that out, though am not sure who else to look for.
I was unable to find out how much it cost to digitize the 1940 census, but apparently the process started in 2009. I even looked at the budget, but it is not a separate item. NARA is in the process of digitizing enormous numbers of records of all kinds. It will be interesting to see what becomes available for genealogists.
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After all, tax dollars paid for it.
So I looked at ED information from 1930. Then I remembered they had moved from 1930 to 1940 so knew that was no good. I thought about it and did a 1930 search for one of my mom's schoolmates. Found his ED and that lead to the correct one, next to it. Sherlock Holmes hasn't got anything on genealogists. 
*sigh* Digitizing information doesn't happen by magic. The labor and equipment to do so is paid for by taxpayers. When the government is "happy to pay" for something, that *means* it comes out of taxpayers' pockets! Please just ignore my posts in future, EnricoV. Just put me on your ignore list, would you? 
For anyone who would like to purchase the entire 1940 census ...
