Idaho income growth tops the nation. Is it becoming an ‘elite state’? What the data says
Idaho saw the largest percentage increase in median household income in the nation between 2018 and 2022, according to new U.S. Census Bureau data.
Median household income in the Gem State grew by 15% over the five-year period, rising to $70,214 per year, per the bureau’s latest American Community Survey. Idaho was followed by other Western states including California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona.
Idaho also ranked fifth in the nation in dollar-for-dollar income growth during that period, up by $9,153.
The jump in median household income is partially due to the state’s rapid population growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, said Idaho Department of Labor economist Jan Roeser. Wages in industries like health care, education, retail and food service got a boost as the need for entry-level service workers exceeded the supply. Construction, too, saw an increase in workforce demand as the housing market heated up.
“We’re getting new people who really appreciate our quality of life, our slower pace, our lower crime and definitely our recreational opportunities,” Roeser told the Idaho Statesman by phone.
Much of the in-migration comes from “prime-age” workers, or people 25-54 years old, she said, citing data from a 2020 Internal Revenue Service report. Idaho’s population growth last year was more than double the national average, with the number of residents rising to 1.96 million.
She said an exodus of retirees from the state’s workforce also contributed to Idaho’s income growth, leading to the higher wages needed to retain existing employees and to recruit new hires.
Roeser believes residents choosing to live in Idaho while working for out-of-state companies may have driven up incomes as well. Her own daughter, a 29-year-old with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, “got a huge pay bump” when she took a job as a marketing analyst at a California-based firm, working remotely from Boise.
“I was worried for her,” Roeser said. “But now she makes more than her mother.”
Despite the gains, wages in Idaho are still lower than average. Robert Spendlove, senior economist at Zions Bank, told the Statesman that the state ranks No. 31 in the country for median household income. And, the cost of living has soared over the last few years.
Spendlove said the cost of a single-family home in Idaho is still too high for many residents to afford, especially for those born and raised in the state.
“Idaho has, traditionally, been unique among the states, where we had a young population, relatively lower cost of living and relatively lower income,” he said. “But we’ve seen this infusion of people into the state that has pulled up housing prices, pulled up the cost of living and it’s also pulling up income.”
While Idaho has long had a few small enclaves of wealth — think Sun Valley and Driggs — the state’s burgeoning affordability crisis may be a motivator for low-wage earners to leave, as higher-income residents become a larger share of households.
Idaho’s housing growth ranks No. 4 in the nation, outpacing all its neighbors apart from Utah.
The state saw an uptick of nearly 57,000 housing units between the end of the five-year American Community Survey period ending in 2017 and the latest period ending in 2022.
Most of those new units were built in the Treasure Valley. Five in eight, or 62%, of those new housing units went up in the Boise Metropolitan Statistical Area.
“Idaho is becoming more of an elite state,” Spendlove said. “It is consistent with the dramatic migration that we’ve seen out of many parts of the country and into Idaho and other states in the Intermountain West.”
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