State's poorer counties getting richer

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Economic data from the 2000 Census suggest Missouri's long-standing record of below-average family incomes may be ending, with the latest statistics pointing to a growing number of counties with above-median incomes.

These data, gleaned from the long Census form, show a different economic outcome that refutes the economic complaint of the 1990s that the bulk of financial gains went to those already at the top of the heap. The higher median incomes suggest Missourians were going in a different direction than other states.

Median income is compiled from data collected on the long Census form that goes to every sixth household. Statistical techniques are used to generalize this sampling to the county level, and while not completely accurate, it provides the best information available in measuring income by locations.

Average is skewed

Missouri has generally fallen below the national average because the state's average is skewed by the largest population counties which also have usually had the state's highest earned-income rankings. Of the 115 county units and the City of St. Louis about 10 have historically been at or above the state average. In 1990, 13 counties registered gains, while the latest statistics place 19 counties at or above the state average of $37,934.

This is the highest number of counties at or above the state average in history, said a spokesman at the U.S. Census Office in Washington.

While income adjusted for inflation was going up 10.3 percent, many counties on the lowest end were doing much better. Seven of the above-average income counties were among 14 showing a relative drop. The state's largest population area, St. Louis County with its million-plus population, dropped from 144.6 percent of the state average to 133.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the state's smallest county, Worth, saw its level increase from 55.3 percent of state average to 72.4 percent, almost double the state rate.

Mississippi County was among the counties showing a relative drop in median income, an understandable trend because the county has a state prison whose "inhabitants" do not contribute to household income totals.

Mississippi County registered heavy losses because of heavy employment losses from industrial plant closings.

Looking at the balance and its gains, clearly the reinstitution of farm payments shows in the rather large relative gains across the state's southeastern section where farming is an economic base.

A similar trend appears in the Bootheel.