Median household income for Clark County residents rose last year to $74,747. That’s an increase of $5,685 or more than 8 percent from the year prior, according to newly released American Community Survey estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Median annual income for families was higher at $84,650. Married-couple families earned the most: $95,282. The median is the point where half of incomes are more and half are less.
While most income comes from wages, income captures money from all sources — both earned and unearned — such as investments, Social Security and retirement benefits. In terms of what people actually take home from their day jobs, earnings for full-time workers in Clark County also showed strong increases. Median earnings rose from $50,130 in 2016 to $55,751 in 2017, an 11 percent increase, according to the survey estimates.
“That’s a good increase,” said regional economist Scott Bailey, adding that it’s still significant even after adjusting for inflation. “I don’t quite believe the magnitude of the Census numbers, but I would’ve been shocked to see it go down or stagnate.”
He said that nationally, the most recent wage numbers for all private-sector jobs had gone up about 2.6 percent between 2016 and 2017. Meaning, Clark County is outpacing the nation.
The lowest paid 10 percent saw their wages go up, which Bailey attributes to Washington’s hourly minimum wage jumping to $11 in 2017. Currently, the state minimum wage is $11.50 an hour and will increase to $13.50 by 2020.
Bailey said there are several reasons for median wages to go up in an area: people get raises, there are new jobs with high pay, or the area lost low-paying jobs. Locally, there has been good job growth across the spectrum, particularly in the construction industry, Bailey said. High-paying jobs, such as those involving health care, software, financing and corporate headquarters, are expanding locally.
People with graduate or professional degrees were the highest-paid full-time workers in terms of education level; median earnings were $72,225 for them. Full-time workers who did not graduate high school had median earnings estimated at $30,614 annually.
Although earnings went up for both men and women, the local gender pay gap remains about the same.
Women earn 75 cents for every dollar that men earn in Clark County. The gender pay gap is wider here than across the Columbia River. In Multnomah County, Ore., women earn about 87 percent of what men do. Nationally, women earn about 80 cents for every dollar that men earn.
To be in the top 5 percent, Clark County households had to have an annual income of at least $220,190.
Nationally, incomes rose by about 1.8 percent — the third consecutive annual increase in median household income — and poverty fell 0.4 percent, reflecting a recovering economy and strong job growth.
However, in Clark County the percentage of people living below the poverty level increased from 8.8 to 10.3 percent. The 2017 federal poverty levels were $12,060 for a single person or $24,600 for a four-person family.
Wage disparity has generally been growing, but Bailey said the recent wage numbers show growth at the bottom and middle of the pay scale rather than it being concentrated at the top. That makes the interpretation of income rising along with poverty somewhat hazy. The Gini index, which measures income distribution, shows income inequality was basically unchanged between 2016 and 2017.
Every figure from the American Community Survey is an estimate derived from surveys taken across the country, and figures come with their own margin of error.
