Idaho’s 2008 Urban Per Capita Income Drops 0.3%; Rural Idaho Gains 3.9%

Per capita income in Idaho’s metropolitan areas declined in 2008 as the current recession siphoned thousands of jobs and tens of millions in wages from the state's economy.

A 1.2 percent drop from 2007 in per capita income for the five-county Boise metro area, the state’s largest, was the first annual decline since the current statistical series began in 1969. While the other four urban areas posted gains, albeit modest, the income erosion in the Boise area was enough to drop combined urban per capita income by three-tenths of a percent. That was also the first annual decline for urban Idaho.

By comparison, per capita income in the 367 metropolitan areas across the nation rose 2.2 percent.

The Boise metro area, where population grew 2.2 percent in 2008 while the number of jobs fell by 5.4 percent,  was also responsible for holding statewide per capita income to a 1 percent increase in 2008 – less than half the increase recorded nationwide. Idaho’s population grew 1.8 percent last year while jobs declined by 0.3 percent.

Combined, Idaho's 33 rural counties saw a per capita income gain of 3.9 percent. While that was just half the percentage increase rural Idaho saw in 2007, it substantially outpaced the modest population gain of 1.2 percent in those rural counties.