Wages rising for some as more tech workers, other high-earners move to Jacksonville (Courtesy of the Florida Times-Union) — Salaries of people moving into Jacksonville have been rising substantially faster than incomes of people already living here, new data from the Internal Revenue Service shows.
Over 10 years, the average adjusted gross income of households moving into Duval County rose 49.4 percent, reaching $58,124 on tax forms filed for 2019, according to information the IRS released last month.
Growth of technology jobs could have a lot to do with that, say development watchers who’ve seen a string of reports crediting Jacksonville with one of the country’s highest growth rates in the number of tech workers.
“Particularly as we grow in areas of IT and innovation, finance and biomedical companies … we are seeing high-wage jobs more readily available,” said Aundra Wallace, president of JAXUSA Partnership, the JAX Chamber’s economic development arm.
Existing households have been making more money too, and the average adjusted gross income on their tax forms — $71,190 for 2019 — remained well above the people just moving in.
But the gap has been closing, with newcomers’ income rising about one-third faster than locals.
The higher earnings could also be tied to another trend affecting Jacksonville’s growth: more people moving between Duval County and large Sunbelt cities with reputations as significant business hubs.
“The city has always wanted to be part of that network,” said Ray Oldakowski, a Jacksonville University geography professor who spotted the surge in wages as he tracked changes in a list of counties where people have been moving to Duval County.
“We’ve broadened that network to include these business centers in the South like Houston, like Charlotte, like Phoenix,” Oldakowski said. Tax returns for 2019 reflected about 700 people in Duval County who lived the year before in the counties containing those three cities, and more than 800 people from Duval County who had moved there.
The flow of transplants gets noticed in job interviews too.
“A lot of people I talk with are interested in Jacksonville because of the job opportunities,” said Ryan Drake, president of NetTech Consultants, a Southside IT support firm that focuses on small and medium-sized companies who don’t have in-house tech staff.
Photo courtesy of Sean Burgess