Local Economics

Just for fun, I did a Wikipedia search on the three communities Jeff and I most closely associate with on the Hi-Line: Joplin, Inverness, and Rudyard.  Here's some of the data I found most interesting (according to the 2000 Census):

Inverness
Population: 103
Median Income: $28,750

Joplin
Population: 210
Median Income: $38,281

Rudyard
Population: 275
Median Income: $28,393

I wonder why Joplin's median income would be about $10k higher than the other two towns? Are there one or two households who make that much more money, and skew the results? In these small towns it wouldn't take too many outliers to prod a statistic one way or the other.  The other odd thing to me is that  it would seem that if any of the three towns should have a higher median income, it should be Rudyard, since it is the biggest and there are more businesses there.  Maybe as time goes on, I will have more speculations about this.

Also notable was that in all three communities, the median income for males was about $10k more than the median income for females.  Many women here do not work outside the home, or work very part-time.  If a woman works in the home or helps on the farm with her husband and family, thereby contributing to the overall household income, is it even fair to compare the income of men and women separately?  If a woman works in the home cooking, cleaning, etc. and/or on the farm driving truck or helping drive a herd, how does society view her? And does it even matter?

One more thing, for comparison's sake.  In 2003, the median income for the entire United States was $45,018.  In 2009, the poverty threshold for a family of four in the U.S. was $21,756.  Make of that what you will, but it should also be noted that I don't ignorantly assume that the poverty threshold is the most fair and accurate measure.  Secondly, it is also important to note that cost of living in Hill County, MT is significantly less than the national average.  All the same, the numbers are interesting and at this point (partially because I have a horrible understanding of economics) I have more questions than answers about these data.