Iowa Incomes Higher in Rural Areas

A recent analysis of U.S. Census Bureau statistics suggests that Iowans don’t need to live “in the city” to make a good living.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach released a study that showed rural Iowans are faring better financially than their urban counterparts.

Median household income in rural Iowa — cities with fewer than 2,500 people — stood at $60,223 in 2015. That’s about 16.5 percent higher than the median income in urban areas, which was $51,705.

That gap has grown larger in the past decade.

The median household income for rural Iowans grew by 9.6 percent since 2005, while the median household income in urban areas increased by 3.7 percent in that same 10-year stretch.

Iowa State associate professor David Peters, who conducted the statistical analysis, said he particularly was surprised to see how Iowa’s rural success has compared to other states.

Iowa had the sixth-highest rate of rural median income growth over the past decade, trailing only North Dakota, Wyoming, South Dakota, Arkansas and Nebraska.

“When you look at how Iowa compares to other states, that is something that really surprised me,” Peters said. “If you look at many of the states ahead of us, they are oil and gas states.”

Wisconsin’s rural income grew by less than 1 percent in that time period, while Illinois experienced a slight decline in rural income. (full article...)

BY JEFF MONTGOMERY Dubuque Telegraph Herald, November 2, 2016

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