Rising Median Incomes

The undeniable truth is median incomes are down most everywhere you look. But in the incubus of federal government inside and surrounding the Washington DC Beltway it is distinctly different. In our review of county by county median incomes, we blogged last spring,

[n]ot so in the Washington DC area.  Huge surges in federal expenditures made the National Capitol Region recession proof and enriched hundreds of thousands of federal employees and contract personnel.   Households throughout the region, despite in many cases being deeply in debt and highly leveraged, never felt the pain.

Now this week the Wall Street Journal has come out with a report that confirms our analysis. And more accurately and comprehensive, there are millions of federal government amped beneficiaries spanning the entire DC Metro area.

American incomes have tumbled over the last decade. But for many people in Washington, D.C., it’s been something of a party.

The income of the typical D.C. household rose 23.3% between 2000 and 2012 to an inflation-adjusted $66,583, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, its most comprehensive snapshot of America’s demographic, social and economic trends. During this period, median household incomes for the nation as a whole dropped 6.6% — from $55,030 to $51,371. The state of Mississippi, which had one of the biggest declines, dropped 15% to $37,095: Nearly one in three people there have an income that is near the poverty line. 

The Washington, D.C. metro area — which includes the surrounding suburbs in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia — has it even better, with a median household income of $88,233 that ranks highest among the U.S.’s 25 most populous metro areas. Tampa, Florida’s median income, by contrast, is under $45,000.

The lineup is changing a bit as the incumbent administration's A team moves along to make big bucks in the private sector while Obama struggles to play with his B and C teams, but the results are the same.  It pays to live where Obama spends, Jack Lew (previously Tim Geithner) borrows and Ben Bernanke (soon to be Janet Yellen) prints the money (real or inflation adjusted incomes are going down because this process devalues the dollar).  

DC Metro Area incomes surged ahead
 of the tech sector heavy Silicon Valley.

As for the rest of you who live throughout the U.S., you can forget it. Listen to and worship the leftist and big government rhetoric but live the reality. Declining incomes are a very real tax that is being paid to support massive deficit spending.  Good luck to all.