It appears that average income may be influenced by gains for those at the top of the economic ladder: The number of households earning more than $200,000 jumped from 3 to 4.4 percent of all households, the only statistically significant change in the income distribution.
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This year’s print of $56,516 (compared to last year’s $53,718 total) was the first annual increase in this key metric since 2007, the year before the most recent recession began.
Although more details of household incomes in Minnesota will be released on Thursday, one Treasury document does confirm that the state’s poverty level is at 9.1 percent, the 2nd lowest in the country – after New Hampshire.
While the rest of America got a raise past year for the first time since the Great Recession, average rural residents saw their wages remain flat or even fall a bit from 2014 to 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Nationwide, median household income grew by 3.8 percent, to $55,775, in 2015.
About 15.2 percent of all people in La Crosse County were below the federal poverty level a year ago – $11,770 for an individual; $24,257 for a family of four – compared to 13.5 percent nationwide. That is the biggest decline in poverty since 1968.
The absolute number of people living in federally defined poverty in rural America actually decreased from 2014 to 2015. “But it’s important just to understand this is a big deal”. That was the smallest increase since 2009, when consumer prices fell. It also remained 2.4 percent lower than the peak reached during the boom of the late 1990s.
Neither of those bode well for income levels moving forward.
“It has been a long slog from the depths of the Great Recession, but things are finally starting to improve for many American households”, Chris Christopher, an economist at forecasting firm IHS said.
Median incomes picked up in all regions of the United States, across all age groups, and for most ethnic and racial groups, she said. But the report also found income inequality remains near a record high. The median Hispanic household earns 50 cents for every dollar taken home by a comparable non-Hispanic white household. Numerous jobs created in the early years of the recovery were in low-paying sectors, such as fast food restaurants and retail.
The income growth among poorer Americans has been attributed to a rise in minimum wages, increased employment and more competition for low-wage jobs, Reuters reports.
Last week, the Agriculture Department released its annual data on hunger in the United States, showing that food insecurity declined substantially previous year for the first time since the recession.
Overall, about 94.7 percent of all La Crosse County residents had health insurance, about the same rate as in 2014.
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This story has been corrected to show that last year’s income increase comes after seven years of stagnating incomes, rather than eight.
