When it comes to median household income, tech powerhouses, especially in California, and suburbs of Washington, D.C., tend to dominate the top lists. Among cities with more than 65,000 population, Palo Alto ranked No. 1 in 2015 (latest data) at almost $148,000. Half of households in Palo Alto had higher income [continue reading . . . ]
It’s winter outside — cold, snowy, wet. But when it comes to the economy, especially as measured by employment growth, there’s a heat wave on the West Coast (aka the Left Coast). Washington and Oregon, in particular, are mucho caliente. Employment in the services-providing sectors grew faster in the Evergreen [continue reading . . . ]
A perfect illustration in today’s Seattle Times — and yes, I still read newspapers on dead trees, four a day in fact — how our economy operates today at warp speed. On Page 1, news that in response to competitive pressure from Airbus, Boeing will be cutting costs and trimming [continue reading . . . ]
Population of the Evergreen State has grown about 60% faster than the national average in first half of the decade. Only seven states have grown at a faster rate; only two of those seven have more population than Washington. International migration — people moving from other countries — accounts for [continue reading . . . ]
Employment has been growing faster than average in the recent past on the West Coast generally and in the Pacific Northwest states in particular. Among the states I follow as a regional economist, Montana and Alaska, both hit hard by the collapse of oil prices, rank well below aveage. The [continue reading . . . ]