Background
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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.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis | Download the Data
Data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis show Idahoans earned less in 2012 than residents of almost every other state in the country.
Data: Bureau of Economic Analysis | Chart: Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact
Click on the chart to enlarge.
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.
