Household income drops in Colorado over past 3 years, decade

The Denver Post
Greg Griffin
September 29, 2010

Median household income in Colorado fell nearly 3 percent during the recession, capping a dismal decade of earnings that saw incomes in the state fall 9 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday.

The median Colorado household saw its income fall to $55,430 last year from an inflation-adjusted $60,785 in 1999, according to an analysis of the census data by I-News, a nonprofit investigative news cooperative based in Colorado.

"We're basically still trying to get back to zero. We're trying to get back to as good as things were in the 20th century," said Denver economist Michael Orlando. The large drop in median income over 10 years may reflect the impact of two recessions and a widening income disparity between the highest and lowest earners, he said.

The Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey data released Tuesday gave the first glimpse of the economic and social fallout of the recession that lasted from December 2007 to June 2009. Colorado's unemployment rate, at 8.2 percent in August, is about the same as when the recession ended.

The loss of income was felt across all economic levels, but particularly for those at the bottom. The portion of Colorado households earning less than $25,000 a year grew to 21.4 percent in 2009 from 20.1 percent in 2007, the census survey reported. Those earning more than $100,000 fell to 22.7 percent of households last year from 23.3 percent in 2007.

Blacks in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area saw a dramatic drop in incomes from 2007 to 2009, according to an analysis of the census data by FRESC, a Denver-based nonprofit that's promoting government action to reduce unemployment. Their median household income fell 23 percent to $31,870 in 2008 from $41,429 in 2007, and held steady in 2009, FRESC reported.

Other racial groups didn't see similar losses. Blacks have traditionally had higher unemployment rates than whites, and the unemployment rate among blacks in Colorado was 14.7 percent last year compared with 6.9 percent of whites, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Minorities have been hurt hardest in the recession because many are employed in service and labor-intensive jobs, the first to go when companies cut back.

The census data pointed to other employment trends. The percentage of workers reportedly working from home increased to 6.7 percent in 2009 from 6.0 percent in 2007. Commute times edged up slightly.

Employment in sales, construction, production and transportation was down as a percent of workers. Information jobs and those in insurance and real estate also fell.

Employment in management, professional services, educational services, health care and arts, entertainment and recreation was up as a percentage of all employment.

The number of self-employed workers fell to 7.0 percent from 7.4 percent.

Greg Griffin: 303-954-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com