From highest to lowest, Utah counties' median household incomes reflect a growing disparity between booming cities and agricultural towns.
2000 Census data released Tuesday show San Juan County with the state's lowest median household income, $28,137. On the other end of the spectrum, Summit County peaked with a median household income of $64,962. Median income reflects an equal number above and below and is not the same as average.
The difference, San Juan County planner Ed Scherick said, comes from a combination of economic conditions that include his county's more agrarian society and the inclusion of Indian reservations in the income data. San Juan County is home to both White Mesa and Halchita, two Indian reservations that turned up numbers as low as $9,875 in Halchita for median household income.
Known for high unemployment rates, Indian reservations in Utah also suffer from a lack of education, and consequently a lack of entrepreneurship and business development, said Forrest Cuch, director of the Division of Indian Affairs.
Further, Cuch said, reservation members rely heavily on government services for their income rather than partnering with other local residents to build up business.
"If local people would partner with tribes on various businesses, they could combine their resources and support each other. Instead, they end up competing," Cuch said.
Complicating matters is that only 8 percent of land in San Juan County is privately owned, meaning development depends largely on leases from federal landholders, Scherick said. But such leases are unlikely in a county without immediate highway access or a nearby airport, he said.
"We just don't have any of the amenities that people are looking for when they build a business," he said.
Coming in just ahead of San Juan County were Piute County with $29,625 and Daggett County with $30,833.
Douglass Jex, research director for the state Department of Community and Economic Development, said closing the gap between the money-making cities and farming towns is an ongoing state goal. That goal, however, is often hindered by small populations, resource issues and locations that make certain towns unattractive to developers and employers.
"There's always a desire to share the wealth with some of the smaller communities, but it's simply a function of what jobs are available," Jex said.
Robyn Pearson, economic-development director for Wasatch County, attributes Wasatch's fourth-highest ranking of $49,612 less to the residents who actually work in the county and more to the wealthier residents who give the median income a boost by building expensive homes and filing for census reports within county boundaries.
"The ranking doesn't accurately reflect the core of the community," Pearson said. "Just one millionaire drives up the average."
In reality, Pearson said, many Wasatch residents are struggling just to afford their own homes. But census numbers appear to suggest that Wasatch County is financially independent, creating a misconception that deprives the county of much-needed grants for housing, Pearson said.
The same story rings true in Summit County, where community development director Alison Weyher said the county's ranking of highest household income in Utah is misleading because many wealthy Park City residents make it seem like the entire county is well-off.
With the balance thrown off by wealthier residents who commute to work in Salt Lake City, Weyher said the county has to struggle to prove that it needs assistance for the residents who are far below the cited median household income of $64,962.
Coming in just behind Summit County are Davis County with a median household income of $53,726 and Morgan County with $50,272. Salt Lake County was fifth-highest with $48,373.
For cities and unincorporated areas within counties, Salt Lake County's Granite area topped the list with a median household income of $108,343.
A few other areas posting high median household incomes were Summit Park, $88,477; Highland, $80,053; Farmington, $74,250; Alpine, $72,880; and Holladay, $66,468.
Overall, the state jumped from a median of $29,470 in 1990 to $45,726 in 2000.
E-mail: ejohnson@desnews.com