“The U.S. has long benefited from a very fluid domestic labor force that allows talent and expertise to shift to areas of the country where the economy is growing,” Johnson wrote. “By freezing the population in place the recession reduced this labor force mobility.”
Among the 25 most-populous metropolitan areas, the District of Columbia had the highest median household income in 2012, at $88,233, as it continued to benefit from federal spending and the lobbying industry. At the opposite end of that list was Tampa-St. Petersburg in Florida, an area with a large proportion of retirees on fixed incomes, at $44,402.
Highest Income
After Washington, the metropolitan areas with top median household incomes were San Francisco, $74,922; Boston, $71,738; Baltimore, $66,970; Minneapolis-St. Paul, $66,282; Seattle, $65,677, and New York, $63,982.
Among states and the District of Columbia from 2000 to 2012, the District of Columbia recorded the largest inflation- adjusted increase in median household income, going to $66,583 from $53,995, the Census Bureau said. The few states that recorded statistically significant income gains during that period -- North Dakota, Wyoming, Louisiana and South Dakota -- tended to have ties to the energy industry.
States recording large inflation-adjusted declines from 2000 to 2012 were often those that suffered manufacturing losses during the recession, including Michigan (down 19.1 percent), Mississippi (down 15 percent), Georgia (down 13.7 percent), Indiana (down 13.2 percent) and Tennessee (down 12.2 percent).