California Boomin': San Diego the Tops for Personal Income Growth

San Diego, Calif. now has the distinction of being a U.S. boomtown, with the most personal income growth in the nation, according to new Census data. 

Median household income in the city grew by 5.4 percent this year to $76,207, according to the study. While San Diego outpaced the remaining 50 metros studied, California overall had five metros in the top 10 (Silicon Valley, Inland Empire, Los Angeles, and state capital Sacramento), The Los Angeles Times reports. Mark Cafferty, president of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, explains that the city's tech sector and economy are growing, so the ensuing wage growth makes sense. Yet, he adds, “We need to not celebrate (the No. 1 ranking) too much because we have to deal with some of the issues that make it unsustainable to live in the region because of the high housing costs.”

Nationally, median household income rose 2.6 percent. Richmond, Virginia, finished second to San Diego, experiencing 5.3 percent growth. “The general numbers reflect the growing numbers of the economy,” says Christopher Thornberg, founding partner at Beacon Economics. “This is not particularly new since the U.S. economy has been in steady growth for about seven years now … It’s probably not too much of a surprise because of the tightness of the labor market we’ve seen over the last few years.”

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