Gooding, Lincoln and Twin Falls counties reported increases of less than one percentage point, while Jerome County experienced the largest increase -- growing an additional $4 million from 2008 to 2009. Buying power is the after-tax personal income people have to spend on virtually everything from necessities like food, clothing and housing to luxuries like recreation equipment and vacations.
It does not include money borrowed or saved from previous years or spent by tourists from other states or countries. The buying power of all1.5 million Idahoans rose fractionally from 2008 to 2009, but Latino buying power grew 10 times faster than the buying power of the state's non-Latino population.
The buying power of Idaho's Latino population rose 3.1 percent in 2009 to $2.5 billion -- less than half the 7.7 percent increase that pushed its 2008 buying power over $2.4 billion but still exceeding a national growth of 2.8 percent. Last year was the sixth straight year Idaho Latinos have fared better than Latinos nationwide.
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