Income up in Solano from 2007

Income up in Solano from 2007
By Reporter Staff
Posted: 09/30/2009

Household incomes grew slightly from 2007 to 2008 in Solano County despite a slumping economy that statewide left more residents having to make do with less, according to new census figures.

The numbers, which provide a snapshot of economic conditions in 2008, were released Tuesday but are already outdated, since they do not reflect state worker furloughs and other cutbacks across the region since the beginning of the year.

Nonetheless, the report offers a glimpse of local incomes following the housing bust and while some neighboring counties' numbers looked bleak, Solano showed some bright spots.

The median household income in Solano County last year was $70,635, up 1.7 percent from $69,493 in 2007, adjusting for inflation, the census figures show. The Solano figures were better than statewide numbers which showed a median household income of $61,021, down 2 percent from 62,280 in 2007.

In Vacaville, the median income was even better, growing from $71,384 in 2007 to $71,493 in 2008.

Fairfield households showed an even more dramatic increase, with the median growing from $67,981 in 2007 to $76,082 in 2008.

Vallejo, the only other Solano County city for which figures were released, did not fare as well. Its median household income dropped from $63,274 in 2007 to $60,327 in 2008.

When it comes to overall poverty rates, Solano County again showed improvement. Its poverty rate declined from 9.6 percent in 2007 to 8.4 percent in 2008.

In Vacaville, the poverty rate dropped from 6.1 percent in 2007 to 5.8 percent in 2008.

In Fairfield, the poverty rate declined from 10.4 percent in 2007 to 9.3 percent in 2008.

Vallejo, too, saw its overall poverty rate decline from 11.8 percent in 2007 to 10.7 percent in 2008.

In contrast, the statewide poverty figure jumped from 12.4 percent in 2007 to 13.3 percent in 2008.

And the status of Solano's children also improved. In 2007, some 13 percent of children in the county lived in poverty. By 2008, that figure dropped to 10.9 percent.

In Vacaville, the children in poverty figure dropped from 7.5 percent in 2007 to 6.6 percent in 2008. Fairfield's figure was unchanged at 13.1 percent while Vallejo's figure dropped dramatically from 19.4 percent in 2007 to 16.1 percent in 2008.

Statewide, the story was more bleak, with children in poverty numbers growing from 17.3 percent in 2007 to 18.5 percent in 2008.