Friday, August 28, 2015

A Quick Look at Median Household Income Up to 2013

The Census Bureau won't release 2014's median household income for another month or so, but we can have a look at trends up through 2014, for now. These numbers are not adjusted for inflation.

For 2013, the median household income in Colorado was $63,371. In the US for the same period, it was $51,939.

As we can see in the first graph, the Colorado median income level has been above the US level since 1990.

We can also see that over time, this gap has been growing. The second graph shows the gap between the Colorado median income and the US median income: 

The gap was negative from 1986 to 1989 when Colorado's median income was lower than the US. But since then, the gap has generally grown, and reached $10,000 for the first time in 2007. In fact, 2013's gap was the largest ever recorded with Colorado's median income coming in at 11,432 above the US level. 

The final graph shows percentage change in median income for each area. Colorado's YOY changes are much more volatile, as would be expected from an area so much smaller than the US overall. The sheer size of the US and its economy prevent large swings. However, there is a slight downward drift in the US median income increases over time. In other words, US median income seems to be going up by a smaller amount over time. In Colorado, what was a downward drift during the 1990s, appears to have stabilized somewhat since 2003. The YOY change in Colorado from 2012 to 2013 (10.6 percent) was the second largest ever recorded, second only to 1990's growth rate of 14.6 percent. The US rate of change for 2013 was 1.8 percent.




COTD: Metro Denver Home Prices Head Up in FHFA Index

The Federal Housing and Finance Agency has released it Expanded-Data home prince index data through the second quarter of 2015. The latest data shows the largest year-over-year increase in Colorado home prices since 2001.  The first graph shows the YOY change for both Colorado and the US. note that home price growth in larger in Colorado than is the case nationwide. 


In Colorado, the YOY home price growth, according to this index, was 11.2 percent from the second Q of 2014 to the same period of 2015. That's up from 9.9 percent for the 1st Q of 2015. YOY changes in the index for Colorado has generally been above 9 percent since the 4th Q of 2012.   

For the US overall, the YOY change for the 2nd Q of 2015 was 6.2 percent, which was up from 6.1 percent measured during the 1st Q of 2015. 

The second graph shows the index values themselves since 2001. We see that both the US and Colorado have generally followed the same growth pattern over the past 15 years, but since 2012, Colorado has increasingly been outpacing the US. 

With a relatively small amount of new home construction, coupled with a continuing inflow of new residents, it is no surprise that home prices have begun to outpace the nation since the nation overall is not sustaining the type of population growth has experienced in recent years.