More residents report income of $ 1 million

BISMARCK — More North Dakota residents reported incomes of $1 million or more last year thanks to the state’s booming oil patch.

The number of people reporting income of $1 million or more increased by 18.5 percent last year, according to the state Tax Department. More than 470 people reported adjusted gross income of more than $1 million on their 2008 individual tax returns, compared to nearly 400 reporting that income on their 2007 returns, the agency said.

The state had about 340 income millionaires in 2006 and about 270 in 2005, the agency said.

Tax Department analyst Kathy Strombeck said the jump in the number of North Dakotans with income of more than $1 million is largely due to oil company payments to mineral owners.

A strong overall economy and healthy agriculture sector also are factors, she said.

Figures released to The Associated Press show the average adjusted gross income in the state increased from $48,590 in 2007 returns to nearly $50,800 last year, a record. The average adjusted gross income on 2006 returns was about $43,300.

The total reported income in the state jumped from $16.8 billion in 2007 to $17.9 billion last year. The total income in 2008 is more than $3 billion more than in 2006, records show.

“With the national economy in one of its roughest periods, for our state to continue to have growth is very good,” Strombeck said.

The number of individual tax returns rose from about 347,000 in 2007 to more than 352,300 last year, the Tax Department said. About 339,000 returns were filed in 2006.

North Dakota’s strong economy and growing oil industry are helping reverse a loss in population, said Richard Rathge, the state Data Center director and North Dakota demographer.

The Census Bureau’s most recent estimate put the state’s population at about 641,500 last year, up about 3,600 from 2007, but still less than the 642,200 residents in 2000. Census figures for 2009 will likely show more residents in North Dakota than in 2000, Rathge said.

“It’s a wonderful upward cycle when you have the economy pumping,” he said.

Twelve of the 16 western North Dakota counties in the state’s oil patch had a population increase last year, Rathge said. It was the first time he’d seen some counties grow in the more than 25 years he’s been the state demographer.

“We’re seeing in-migration in counties that haven’t seen increases in quite some time, as oil production continues to go up, and therein lies the reason of more millionaires,” he said.

Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, said about 10,000 people work in the state’s oil patch now, up about 2,000 from 2007. For every job in the oil patch, three more indirect jobs are created, he said.

“All that money is good news for Main Street,” he said.

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