MAHONING VALLEY Census figures show an average rise of $10K in wages from '90

Gains in the Valley still don't match the salaries and home values in the Akron-Cleveland metro area.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
Things are looking up in the Mahoning Valley: On average, workers are earning $10,000 more a year than they were in 1990.
New economic data released this week by the United States Census Bureau shows the average household was earning $36,255 in the Youngstown-Warren metropolitan area when the last census was taken in 2000, up from $25,939 a decade before.
Homes are worth more, too -- the median home in the Youngstown-Warren metro area was worth $82,200 when the last census was complete, up from $50,100 in 1990.
But despite its gains, the Valley continues to trail communities in the nearby Akron-Cleveland metro area in wages and home values.
Wage earners in the Akron-Cleveland metro area tallied an average household income of $42,215 in 2000, up from $30,332 in 1990. The median home price there was $117,900, up from $70,400 a decade before.
Detailed picture
Based on data obtained from a 53-point questionnaire the bureau distributed to one out of every six households in 2000, the new economic statistics paint a detailed picture of each community's work force, salaries and housing accommodations.
The information does not reflect the cost of living in the recent recession or the 1,275 left jobless with the shutdown of CSC Ltd., a Warren steel bar maker that went bankrupt last year. And the census bureau also cautions that there is a margin of error in any survey.
Census figures indicate a rise in the number of service-related occupations, which employ 41,019, 15.7 percent of the Mahoning Valley's working population. Service jobs occupied 28,154 in 1990.
Fewer farmers
Statistics showed 899 earning a living by farming, fishing or forestry, a dramatic drop from the 2,524 in that category in the previous census.
The Valley has more government workers. Census figures list 27,566 taking home a local, state or federal government paycheck in 2000, up from 20,889 a decade before.
Self-employed workers were also on the rise. The 2000 census reported 14,152 self-employed workers in their own, unincorporated business, compared with 10,683 in 1990.
Full-time female workers in the Youngstown-Warren metro area trailed their male counterparts by more than a third in earnings. The median salary for a woman in 2000 was $22,931, while a man working the same hours earned an average $35,829.
Poverty, housing
Poverty statistics followed a similar pattern. While 8.9 percent of families in the region were living under the poverty level in 2000, census figures show 28.2 percent of families with a female head of household were considered poor.
Data on the Valley's housing stock show the largest number of homes, 23.5 percent, were built between 1995 and 1998, and about 18 percent of the homes are 33 years old or older.
There are 88 homes in the region valued at more than $1 million, according to the census bureau, and just 1.1 percent in the region, or 1,768 homes, were valued at more than $300,000 at census time.
Natural gas heats 76.6 percent of the region's homes, and 10.7 percent have electric heat. There were still 919 homes without complete plumbing, and 2.3 percent had no telephone service.
Homeowners in the Youngstown-Warren area who are paying on a mortgage must appropriate $800 a month, on average, for their house payment, property taxes and other owner expenses. Renters pay an average $447 a month, but about 28 percent pay up to $749 a month.
More details on the census data, including educational, racial and household composition data released earlier, are available at www.census.gov.
vinarsky@vindy.com