New Census Data Show Oregon is Booming, But Big Income Disparities Persist

Oregonians' incomes soar and the poverty rate dips well below national average—but not everybody is benefiting.

(Jordan Fox/Rabbit Hole Photo for Human Access Project)
By Nigel Jaquiss

Analysis of newly released census figures show that Oregonians are finally earning as much as they dd before the Great Recession.

Josh Lehner, a state economist, was effusive about the numbers.  "Oregon's household income and poverty numbers look very good," Lehner wrote. "I don't want to oversell the data, but they are among the best readings in Oregon's modern history."

Oregon's median household income, which usually lags a few percentage points behind the national average, has closed that gap and our poverty rate, which was well above the national average for much of the past decade, has fallen below the national average.

The not-so good news, according to the Oregon Center for Public Policy, is that not everybody is benefiting from the state's booming economy. "Only non-Hispanic Whites and Latinos saw significant declines in poverty rates over the prior year," writes OCPP analyst Janet Bauer.

Here's what the state's income distribution by group looks like:

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