Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

the economy:

Clark County median income falls, more children in poverty

Social Services

Sam Morris / File photo

Residents wait in line at Clark County Social Service’s Pinto Lane office earlier this year as the sun comes up.

Beyond the Sun

The median household income in Clark County last year dropped to $53,505 — its lowest level since 2005 and more than $3,000 below the 2008 figure, according to data released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The 2009 median household income represents a 5.6 percent decrease from 2008 when it was $56,696, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

Despite having the nation’s highest unemployment rate — 14.4 percent in August — Nevada’s median household income still ranks in the top half of states at $53,341. That figure is the 19th highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Stephen P.A. Brown, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, said he thinks the 2009 economic data for Nevada will rank among the worst in the state’s history.

“There are numerous businesses where people have taken salary cuts in order to stay working, and some of the highest paid jobs in construction have been eliminated,” he said, explaining the dip in Clark County’s median household income.

Consequently, the number of children living below the poverty line in Clark County increased — from 14.3 percent in 2008 to 17.5 percent in 2009, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

Nevada ranks 28th among states for its child poverty rate, with 17.6 percent of its children living below the poverty line in 2009. Mississippi had the worst child poverty rate in 2009 at 31 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“This is a nationwide recession, so it’s one where Nevada and Las Vegas’ relative poverty hasn’t fallen that much because everyone has fallen with us,” Brown said of the rankings.

Overall, 12.2 percent of Clark County residents were living below the poverty line in 2009, a 1.4 percent increase over the previous year. The federal poverty level is $22,050 a year for a family of four.

Although the country's economy has entered a recovery stage, Brown said he doesn’t expect Nevada to reach that point for another two years — a product of the lagging tourism industry and the toppling of the real estate market in Las Vegas.

“Those things combined created a worse-than-average performance in an economy overall that’s not doing very well,” he said. “…2010 is probably going to stack up as another bad year for Las Vegas and Nevada.”

The data, part of the American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau each year, also offer other findings. Some in Clark County include:

- Families made up 66 percent of households in Clark County last year, 46 percent of which included married couples.

- Last year, 22 percent of residents were foreign-born. Among Clark County residents at least 5 years old, 33 percent spoke a language other than English at home.

- Eighty-three percent of Clark County residents 25 and older had at least a high school diploma in 2009, while 22 percent in that age group had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

- The arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation and food services industries employed 28 percent of Clark County’s working population last year. Fourteen percent of the county’s employed population worked in the educational services, health care and social assistance industries.

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