By Ken Harwood
Economist for the Solvang Chamber of Commerce
Where we live determines, in part, the middle incomes of our neighbors. Here are six nearby communities, each of which had a different median household income in 2018.
Graph Contributed
Thousands of dollars a year separated these middle incomes from each other.
Median income of a community is the middle income when all incomes in the community are ranked in order from lowest to highest.
Income includes salaries and wages, rents, dividends, interest and transfer payments. Social Security income is an example of a transfer payment.
Each community had a range of incomes that differed greatly from its middle income. Poverty as measured by household income ranged from 3.1 percent of households to 21.5 percent.
Median household income in the United States was $65,712, while that in California was $80,440. All these six local communities had median household incomes above that of the U.S. Four of the six communities had larger median household incomes than that of California.
The Santa Ynez Valley economic area included the six communities. Geology defined Los Alamos as being in the valley of San Antonio Creek, while the five other communities were in Santa Ynez Valley.
Please go online to Bureau of the Census, American Community Survey 2018, Table DP 03, for details.
