By Tim Henderson
Stateline.org
Economic growth outpaced any gains in median household income in every state from 2000 to 2013, a new Stateline analysis shows.
The divergence between middle-class income growth and general economic growth has been a topic of debate among economists for years. But the new analysis—which uses state gross domestic product per person as a measure of economic growth and income data through 2013, the most recent available—reveals significant differences between states that often reflect their differing economies.
The state-level look shows that some of the biggest gaps are in prospering energy states like North Dakota and Wyoming. Rounding out the list of states with the biggest gaps were Alaska, Louisiana and Nebraska. The states with the smallest gaps were Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho and Nevada. The District of Columbia was the only place where median household income outpaced GDP, 24.5 to 20.4 percent.
So where did the growth in wealth go? Why are middle-class incomes stagnant, and why is the middle class shrinking, if there is more economic output as measured per person? And what explains those differences between the states?
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