Watching the gradual post-recession rise in the Spokane-area economy sometimes seems to me a bit like attending a celebration party where everyone’s chatting happily about the mostly upward trend of things, while failing to notice the elephant in the corner of the room.

For me, of late, the elephant symbolizes the lack of growth in per capita and household income here—sort of a barometer of whether Spokane County residents are thriving, or just surviving, which is a significant quality-of-life consideration.

The topic has been on my mind more often since the recent publication of our 2016 Market Fact Book. Government data included in the book showed estimated median household income here last year of $52,220, which was 66 percent to 85 percent of median household income for three of the most populous West Side counties—King, Clark and Pierce.

Spokanites like to respond, “Yes, but the cost of living also is a lot lower here.” That’s true, and it’s an important caveat, but it still would be nice to  see Spokane County narrowing the gap a bit over time, which hasn’t really been the case. If anything, it’s been widening.

Perhaps more concerning—and true, of course, to varying degrees across the country—is that wages have been mostly flat since the Great Recession, with many Spokane workers receiving little or no increase in pay over a five-year or longer stretch.

Preliminary data show that Spokane County’s median household income rose a healthy 4 percent last year, compared with 2014, but it had dipped in 2009 through 2012, and now is up just 7 percent from a 2008 peak, equating to a measly average gain of less than 1 percent of a year since then. With wage earners having lost so much ground to inflation, it’s a surprise—even with low interest rates and gas prices—that home and car sales have remained on such a strong rebound.

Perhaps better gains in household income are still on the horizon. The Kiplinger Letter, which provides weekly forecasts for business executives and investors, says that after several false starts, wage growth nationally is finally showing signs of perking up, creating a tighter labor market that might require some companies to shell out more to land or keep quality workers. It will be interesting to see to what degree employers here begin to feel that pressure.

Finally, in a sort-of-positive aside, depending on your viewpoint, you might be pleased to hear that SmartAsset, a New York-based personal finance technology company, has rated Spokane No. 3 among U.S. cities for highest “real” minimum wage, meaning adjusted for cost of living.

In a study that ranked cities with both the highest and lowest “real” minimum wage, it said Spokane ranked high because it boasts a below-average cost of living, while benefiting from Washington’s high state minimum wage of $9.47. Based on SmartAsset’s analysis, Spokane’s adjusted minimum wage is $9.92.

Spokane is one of four Washington cities to rank in the company’s top 10 cities with the highest real minimum wage, again due partly to the state’s comparatively high minimum wage. Nonetheless, it’s nice to bask in our high rankings where we can find them.