Maryland Ties in Highest-Income Bracket,
Census Finds
By Alia Malik Capital News Service
Friday, Sept. 1, 2006
WASHINGTON - Maryland was one of three states in a statistical tie for
highest median household income in 2005, according to a U.S. Census
Bureau report released Tuesday.
Maryland's median, or the point at which half the household incomes
were higher and half were lower, was $61,592 in 2005, up from $57,424
the year before. New Jersey's median was higher and Connecticut's was
lower, but the differences between the three were all within the
surveys' margins of error, making them statistically insignificant.
After adjusting for inflation, Maryland's median household income
increased 3.8 percent, but that number is imprecise because of a large
difference in sample sizes between the 2005 survey and surveys from
years past. Previous surveys did not sample every county in Maryland,
said Ed Walnick, chief of the Census Bureau's Income Surveys department.
Maryland did see real household income growth in 2005, said Maryland
Department of Planning economist Mark Goldstein, although the change in
sampling might have skewed the dollar amount.
"If you look at other measures of growth in Maryland, job growth, you
could come to a conclusion like that," Goldstein said, adding that the
state showed its highest job growth rate in 2005 since 2000.
"It just reinforces the idea that the state was fairly prosperous in
2005, and so it's not surprising that it would show a real increase in
median income," he said.
Maryland's high concentration of well-educated workers with
high-paying jobs has contributed to its consistent ranking among the
most prosperous states in the country, Goldstein said. Its proximity to
the federal government in Washington, which makes it a leading recipient
of pricey federal contracts, is another contributing factor. And finally,
Goldstein said, last year's increase in federal spending probably
contributed to Maryland's rise in household income.
"I think the pie is increasing," he said, ". . . and Maryland is
getting its share."
A few Maryland counties made the top 10 for median household income
nationwide. At $91,184, Howard County's median income ranked third among
counties and independent cities with populations over 250,000.
Montgomery County's $82,187 median ranked sixth.
"We have been at the top, or near the top, for decades, so this is
not a surprising place to find ourselves," said Richard Story, chief
executive officer of the Howard County Economic Development Authority.
Howard County's top-ranked school system, business climate and
advantageous location between the urban centers of Baltimore and
Washington have been major contributors to the area's prosperity, Story
said.
Montgomery County's proximity to Washington has always helped its
economy, but recently the county has been making it on its own, said Joe
Shapiro, county economic development department spokesman. The
percentage of residents employed by the federal government has gone
down, the county's technology industry is growing and areas like Silver
Spring have been revitalized.
"If you look back 25 years, the dominant factor for Montgomery County
employment, and existence really, was the federal government, and that
has, particularly over the last 12 years, changed," Shapiro said.
Maryland's fiscal picture is not all green. The city of Baltimore, by
contrast, had the seventh-lowest median household income in the country,
dropping to $32,456. Baltimore residents have lower education levels
than Maryland counties with the highest income, which could account in
part for the difference in income levels, Goldstein said.
Calvert County had the third-highest income of counties between
65,000 and 249,999 in population. Carroll County was not in the top 10
but had the eighth-lowest poverty rate, at 3.1 percent.
"Calvert County's kind of up-and-coming, kind of last frontier of
southern Maryland," said county Economic Development Director
Linda Vassallo. "I'm not surprised, I'm really not surprised. I mean,
we've been tracking in this direction for a while."
Copyright ©
2006
University of Maryland College of
Journalism
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