Fairfield County households had a median income of $76,700 in 2006, up 7 percent from 2005 and a rate of growth exceeded only by Windham County”™s 15 percent spike in paychecks.
At the same time, new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau show that Danbury enjoys the lowest poverty rate among Connecticut”™s largest cities.
Connecticut household median income increased 4.1 percent to $63,400.
Rather than calculating an average, the latest Census Bureau figures identify the median earners among sets of households, mostly eliminating the outlier effect captured in the average figures of outlandish profits made by local partners in area financial firms.
A separate report from the U.S. Department of Labor found Fairfield County”™s average weekly wage of 6,100-plus hedge fund workers exceeded $23,000.
Whereas those gaudy numbers put Connecticut and Fairfield County on top of the nation in average income, in terms of median income they rank third and 30th respectively.
Fairfax County, Va., residents pulled the top median household wages in the country at $100,300; among states, Maryland was tops at $65,100 followed by New Jersey at $64,500.
The Census Bureau cautions that the data are based on a statistical sample and so subject to margins of error; for instance, Fairfield County”™s figures could actually be $2,100 higher or lower.
If Fairfield County households pocketed an extra $5,000 in 2006 as the study suggests, the raise may not have covered increased costs from housing, energy and other woes, according to Connecticut Voices for Children, and the group cautioned that the Census Bureau data take a historical snapshot and do not reflect the current woes of the housing and stock markets.
“Employees are not necessarily sharing to the ”¦ extent that they should in the wealth that is being generated,” said Doug Hall, an economist with the New Haven advocacy organization. “In Fairfield County in particular, it is very hard for the average family.”
Even as incomes rose in 2006, the pipeline of new housing contracted after reaching extraordinary levels, according to Kolie Sun, a senior research analyst with the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. Some 9,235 new units of housing were authorized in 2006, a 22 percent decrease from 2005.
Danbury enjoyed the lowest poverty rate among Connecticut”™s largest cities, the new Census Bureau data show, with just 3.5 percent of residents living on income less than the federal poverty level ($20,600 for a family of four). Statewide, 275,000 people live below the poverty rate, some 8 percent of Connecticut”™s population.
Other Fairfield County cities on the list included Norwalk with a poverty rate of 6.4 percent; Stamford at 8.3 percent; and Bridgeport at 20.6 percent.
Hartford had the worst figures in the state, with 30 percent of residents living in poverty and 43 percent of children under the age of 18.
Despite Bridgeport”™s relatively high rate, Fairfield County had the third-best poverty rate among counties at 6.6 percent, trailing Tolland County”™s 5.4 percent poverty rate and Litchfield County”™s 6.3 percent rate.
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