Johnston] NAVAHO POPULATION 45 



Changes of this magnitude clearly demonstrate the worsening plight 

 of the majority of adult Navahos, who still lack the requisite education 

 and training for successful competition in today's economy. 



Two final indicators of the relative economic status of Navahos merit 

 brief consideration; reported housing and reported family income. 

 In 1950, the census enumerators reported medians of 3.93 persons per 

 room and 5.0 persons per dwelling unit on the Navajo Reservation. 

 The former figure is the highest found on any Indian reservation, and 

 is over six times higher than the average for the total United States at 

 that time. The latter figure is 61 percent higher than the national 

 average (U.S. Public Health Service, 1955 d). Neither of these fig- 

 ures is an adequate indicator of relative levels of living. Many 

 Navahos still live in hogans, which are almost invariably single-room 

 constructions. Furthermore, they naturally enjoy a far readier access 

 to the outdoors than do urban dwellers, and are in consequence some- 

 what less restricted to the confines of their housing facilities. Never- 

 theless, the health implications of having an average of four persons 

 per room are obviously serious. 



The median family income of Navaho families in 1949, as reported 

 in the 1950 census, was $568 in Arizona, $442 in New Mexico, and 

 $795 in Utah; the median for the Navajo Reservation as a whole 

 came to $526.^^ This figure was lower than that of any other Indian 

 agency in 1949, excepting the Hopi. The overall Navaho figure of 

 $526 per year was 54 percent of the median family income of all In- 

 dians in the United States, and 30 percent of all rural-farm families' 

 median income in this country in 1949.'^'' 



In 1952, the report of the House Committee on Interior and Insular 

 Affairs provided additional estimates of Navaho family income for 

 that year (U.S. Congress, 1953, p. 110) . According to this report, the 

 median earned family income on the Navajo Reservation was $1,585, of 

 which $730 was from agricultural activities and the remaining $855 

 from other (nonwelfare) sources.'^^ In view of the gradual decline in 

 the purchasing power of the dollar, it is doubtful that these income 

 figures reflect any increase in the real income of the Navaho in the 

 period 1950 to 1952. 



™ U.S. Public Health Service, n.d. b., tables B, C, and I. This report cautions the reader 

 in regard to the reliability of the figures reported, stressing their dependence upon re- 

 spondents' memories. A more important source of bias in these data would be the 

 prevalence among Navahos of nonmonetary economic activities and nonmonetary in- 

 come. 



" Ibid., table B, p. 8. It should be noted that the Navaho income reported above Is 

 much lower than that given by the Navajo Agency (see table 5). The comparisons 

 quoted above may be warranted, nevertheless, on the assumption that Navaho memories 

 are no more deficient in this respect than those of other Indians or of the rural farm 

 population in general. On the basis of a more recent survey of reservation income, the 

 above 1949 figures have been criticized as being "several times too low." See U.S. Public 

 Health Service, 1957 c, p. 31. 



"* This figure corresponds closely with the gross income figures reported by the Navajo 

 Agency for 1950 (see table 5, p. 39). 



