Figure 1

Hazard ratios of all-cause mortality and income, ages 18–64, NHANES, 1988–2001. Models control for age, race/ethnicity, marital status, occupational category and education (and income is adjusted for family size), and the population is restricted to individuals who did not die within one year of follow-up, retire early due to health reasons, change jobs due to health reasons, or change to part-time work due to health reasons. A hazard ratio of 1 is equivalent to the average risk of mortality across the income distribution. The overlaid histogram shows the population distribution by income level, and the labels of income level (in 1991 dollars) on the X-axis denote the family size equivalized US poverty line ($6,270) and the US equivalized median income ($20,190) as external standards of comparison. Dashed lines show 95% confidence intervals of the hazard ratio.