$6,099,996,642,000: Government spent more per earner than median earnings

The good news is that total net local, state and government spending dropped slightly from fiscal 2011 to fiscal 2012 (the latest year for which full state and local spending numbers are available from the Census Bureau). The bad news is that government spending nationwide still topped $6 trillion in fiscal 2012 and equaled more per earner than the nation’s median earnings.

There were 157,191,000 workers 15 years old or older in the United States who had earnings in 2012, according to the Census Bureau’s Historical Income Table P-43. Their median earnings that year were $31,921 and their average earnings were $45,053.