Within the Fifth District, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia experienced decreases in real mean income for the middle quintile from 2010 to 2015. West Virginia experienced almost no change, while the District of Columbia experienced a 2.1 percent average annual increase. Of the states in the Fifth District, Maryland had the highest real mean income for the middle quintile in both 2010 and 2015 ($76,979 and $74,898, respectively) while West Virginia had the lowest ($41,824 and $41,866, respectively).
Of the 359 counties in the Fifth District, 78.8 percent (283 counties) experienced a decrease in real mean income for the middle quintile post-Great Recession. County-level reductions in real mean income averaged 1.2 percent annually, which equates to a $2,834 average decrease in real mean income over five years. Charlotte County, Virginia, experienced the largest dollar value reduction at $14,423 ($57,694 in 2010 compared to $43,271 in 2015).
The 76 Fifth District counties (21.2 percent) that experienced real mean income increases from 2010 to 2015 averaged approximately 1 percent growth annually. The average dollar value of these increases was $2,034 per household over the time period of interest. Hanover County, Virginia, experienced the largest dollar value increase in real mean income for the middle quintile, as real mean income rose $9,876 from $53,209 in 2010 to $63,085 in 2015.