Economy

As it is in many U.S. states, income in Idaho is on an upward trend. Idaho lost ground in per capita personal income from 2009-2011 as it recovered from the Great Recession. But what’s also growing is the gap between personal income in Idaho and in the national as a whole.Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show Idahoans earned less in 2012 than residents of almost every other state in the country.A closer look at hourly wages reveals half of Idaho’s workforce earned $14.58 an hour or less in 2012. The hourly wage in Idaho, on average, is $18.48.Idaho also had a larger share of hourly workers earning minimum wage in 2012 than ever before. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 31,000 Idahoans made $7.25 an hour or less in 2012. That’s a 63 percent increase from 2011.

Census Numbers Show Lower Idaho Incomes After The Recession

Boise State Public Radio News

Published December 3, 2015 at 6:30 AM MST

Income changes approximately before and after the recession.

The 2014 American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau gives a county by county and even neighborhood by neighborhood look at something most of us probably know: Idaho was in worse shape after the Great Recession. For the first time this year the census allows people to compare two non-overlapping five-year periods. Those are 2005-2009 and 2010-2014, a rough approximation of before the recession and after it.

Less Money

No Idaho counties saw an increase in median household income between the two five-year blocks. Many counties saw no change, but many also had smaller household incomes between 2010 and 2014 than they had from 2005 to 2009. Most of the counties that make up the Treasure Valley saw a decrease in income.

In the most recent five-year period Blaine County had the highest household income, between $60,000 and $69,999. A few Idaho counties, including Ada County, had incomes between $45,000 and $59,999. Most were $35,000 to $44,999 and some, including Owyhee County, had incomes less than $35,000 a year.

More Poverty

Change in poverty approximately before and after the recession

It’s no surprise that declining incomes and increased poverty would come together. Poverty went up in several Idaho counties, including all of the Treasure Valley counties from the 2005-2009 period to the 2010-2014 period. Poverty rates in many counties remained unchanged and only Nez Perce County saw a decrease in poverty.

The Census numbers show that 10-14.9 percent of Ada County residents lived in poverty between 2010 and 2014. Poverty rates were higher in the rest of the Treasure Valley.

Go On Southwest Idaho

One bright spot for the Treasure Valley is that Ada, Canyon, Elmore and Gem Counties saw an increase in the percent of the population with college degrees between 2005-2009 and 2010-2014. Most other Idaho counties did not.

Find Adam Cotterell on Twitter @cotterelladam

Census Numbers Show Lower Idaho Incomes After The Recession

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