Constant Year
Constant-year income values are adjusted for inflation and represent an effort to remove the effects of price changes from statistical series reported in dollar terms. The result is a series as it would presumably exist if prices were the same throughout as they were in the base year. The values are expressed in the dollars of the base year, which is the last full year before the Census is collected. Often used for analyzing income trends over time.
Current Year
Current-year dollars describe income in the year in which a person, household, or family receives it. For example, 2019 dollars would be expressed at their 2019 value, unadjusted for inflation. Current year income variables are the most commonly used in analysis using Environics Analytics' current data vintages.