Military cities top others in N.C. for average incomes

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.

Steady paychecks and a growing flow of Pentagon dollars pushed average pay in North Carolina's two largest military communities beyond bigger metro areas like Charlotte and Raleigh.

The Jacksonville metropolitan statistical area, home to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, led the country with personal income growth of 14 percent in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The local per capita income was the highest in the state at $44,664, The Fayetteville Observer reported Tuesday.

The Fayetteville metro area saw earnings grow 5 percent last year to $40,917.

The military dollars have powered civilian businesses, said Kristie Meave, spokeswoman for the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce.

"People are using that income to pay for everyday goods, such as groceries, to eat out," Meave said. "They're also buying luxury items with this money, which keeps our retail industry doing very well."

Personal incomes also rose in Goldsboro, home to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and the Virginia Beach-Norfolk metro area, which extends into North Carolina's Currituck County.

Federal figures showed seven of the country's top ten metro areas for greatest growth in personal incomes were powered by military paychecks. Besides Jacksonville and Fayetteville, the military towns that saw rising household revenues were Manhattan, Kan.; Elizabethtown, Ky.; Lawton, Okla.; Clarksville, Tenn.; and Killeen, Texas.

In contrast, unemployment and other effects of the recession caused wages to drop in North Carolina's 11 other metropolitan areas. That's in line with a national slide in incomes by 2.8 percent to an average of $40,757.

Fayetteville's rising incomes were fueled by combat pay for troops from Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base serving in war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. The military's pending expansions of the Army's Forces Command and Reserve Command headquarters at Fort Bragg attracted higher-ranked service members and military contractors offering their services to the Defense Department, local officials said.

Likewise, Marines have been deployed from Camp Lejeune for battle and the base is expanding by about 11,500 personnel.

The sheltering effect military towns have enjoyed from the worst of the recession should continue, North Carolina State University economist Mike Walden said.

"Even if military spending slows somewhat due to the drawdown in Iraq, the private sector should pick up the slack this year and next," he said.

Information from: The Fayetteville Observer, http://www.fayobserver.com