Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The housing market collapse, historically low interest rates and corporations stingy with dividends helped cut the median household income in two of every three U.S. counties, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.
Nationwide, median household income fell to $51,914, a $2,678 drop over the decade when adjusted for inflation. Black households lost the most, with median household income falling 8 percent to $35,194. Hispanics reported $41,354, a 5.5 percent drop. The figure for white, non-Hispanic households fell to $56,466, a 4.3 percent decrease over the decade. Asian households reported $68,950, a 2.2 percent gain.
Impact on Affluent
Households in traditionally affluent areas, such as the New Jersey suburbs of Hunterdon, Somerset and Morris counties -- the sixth, ninth and 10th-wealthiest in the nation -- showed median income losses over the decade. Incomes fell in Westchester County, New York, to $79,619, a $3,037 drop; Putnam County, to $89,218, a $4,744 decline; and $82,534 in Rockland County, a $5,828 fall.
The greatest declines occurred in Great Lakes states and southern Appalachia. People in 82 of Michigan’s 83 counties reported their household incomes dropped between 2000 and 2010. Households in Livingston County, a Detroit suburb, registered the largest drop in the nation, with incomes falling to $72,129, a $15,491 decrease from the 2000 real median of $87,620.
