Central Coast leads California in falling incomes

December 8, 2011

Residents of the Central Coast of California have been hit the hardest in the great recession with median incomes plummeting 18 percent since 2007, according to a report released today by the Public Policy Institute of California.

The report defines the Central Coast region as Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties.

In the great recession and its aftermath, the percentage of Californians living in middle-income families fell to a new low of less than 50 percent, the report says.

After adjusting for the state’s cost of living, in 2010, 47.9 percent of families in California had incomes between $44,000 and $155,000, considered middle-income. In 1980, 60 percent of California families were middle-income.

“It is unclear whether incomes will continue to decline or begin to rebound in the near future,” the report says. “However, if previous post-recession patterns repeat themselves, it is likely that lower-income families will recover much more slowly than those at the high-end, potentially worsening income inequality that is already at a record high.”