Oregon cities rank low among U.S. cities with best income growth

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Five Oregon cities were named among the U.S. cities that saw the largest increase in income in 2022. However, none of the Oregon cities managed to crack the top 100.

The financial intermediary service SmartAsset compiled U.S. Census Bureau data for the 349 largest cities in the U.S. and ranked them by their increase in median income between 2021 and 2022 to measure the impacts of inflation around the U.S.

“When income goes up, it can lessen the burden of inflation and even outpace it,” Smart Asset wrote in its findings. “The Consumer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices over time, jumped roughly 13.5% in 24 months from 2021 to 2022. But the median income across major U.S. cities over the same time period only went up 8.1%, which means that the wages of many Americans were undercut by inflation. Despite this gap between income and inflation increases, workers in some U.S. cities were able to keep up with and even beat consumer cost increases.”

Salem ranked highest among Oregon’s cities with a 9.84% growth in income in 2022, enough to place Oregon’s capitol at 133rd on the list. The Woodlands, Texas ranked first on the list with a 31.06% increase in median income, raising the average from $104,787 to $137,335.

Where Oregon’s salaries increased the most in 2022: