Booming economy in Chester County

Median household income in 2015 was $90,503 in county; other ’burbs also doing well

Median household incomes in Chester County are up 6 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Median household income in the Philadelphia suburban area has consistently been on the rise and repeated that trend last year, based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s release of the 2015 American Community Survey Thursday.

Delaware County had the highest annual median household income increase at 7 percent between 2014 and 2015, although Chester and Montgomery counties also experienced hikes in that period, 6 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Neither the counties surrounding the city of Philadelphia, nor Pennsylvania, were exactly alone in reporting increases in the median household income for the year. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia experienced similar spikes, with increases ranging from 1.8 percent in Connecticut to 6.8 percent in Montana.

According to the report, no state reported a decrease in median household income in that year.

The survey reported that the national median household income increased 3.8 percent from 2014 to 2015, when the median was recorded as $55,775. That was close to Pennsylvania’s 2015 median at $55,702, a 4.5 percent increase over the previous year’s.

Comparatively in the Phila-

delphia-Camden-Wilmington metropolitan area, the 2015 median household income was $65,123, $9,421 above the state average and 4.7 percent above the 2014 statistic of $62,223.

Here in the suburbs, Delaware County had the highest year-over-year percentage increase, reporting a 2015 median household income of $67,584, or a more than 7 percent increase over the previous year’s median. In Chester County, the 2015 median was $90,503 or 6 percent higher than last year; and in Montgomery County, it was $83,254, or 4 percent over last year’s figure.

In a contrast with figures from a decade ago, each of the three counties fared well.

Chester County experienced the highest percent increase – a whopping 24 percent – for median household income. In 2005, that number was $72,690.

Montgomery County followed with a 22 percent increase this year compared to its 2005 median household income of $68,210.

Delaware County also had a significant hike at 21 percent over its decade-old income statistic of $55,630.

The American Community Survey is compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, which samples 3.5 million addresses in the United States and Puerto Rico on 40 categories in communities with populations of 65,000 or more.

“The American Community Survey allows us to track incremental changes across our nation on how Americans live and work, year-to-year,” Census Bureau Director John H. Thompson said. “It helps people, businesses and governments in all of our states and local communities better understand the needs of their populations, the markets in which they operate and the challenges and opportunities they face.”

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