Noem touts her state's top income growth — but doesn’t mention last year’s bottom rank

Gov. Kristi Noem celebrated South Dakota’s nation-leading growth in a category of household income, but she didn’t mention a reason why the state was well positioned to improve: It ranked last during the prior year.

Noem’s office issued a news release Tuesday saying South Dakota “once again led the nation in income growth in 2023.”

“South Dakotans are thriving because we defend Freedom and advance their opportunities to pursue their dreams,” said a statement from the Republican governor, which continued her two-year-old practice of using a capital “F” when writing the word “freedom.”

The release cited newly published data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The numbers show South Dakota’s real median household income grew by 17% percent in 2023, which was the best growth rate in the nation.

But a little digging into the same dataset reveals South Dakota’s real median household income fell by 16% in 2022, which was the nation’s worst decline that year.

Noem’s office did not immediately respond to a Searchlight request for comment about that statistic.

Noem’s news release also said South Dakota ranks second in real median household income growth over the past five years, which is true. The state’s rate of growth from 2018 to 2023 was 15%, behind only Alaska’s rate of 19%.

Real median household income is the inflation-adjusted (i.e., “real”) midpoint of all household incomes in a given geography.

South Dakota’s real median household income in 2023 was $81,740, which ranked 22nd in the nation.

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