Nationally, the median household - half of wage earners made more and half made less - income rose slightly in 2007, to $50,233, an increase of 1.1 percent over the year before.

''The gains that occurred last year were welcome, but unfortunately, they are too little, too late,'' said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. ''The median household is no better off now than it was back in 2000, despite their deep contribution to the nation's economic growth during this period.

''The American work force is baking a bigger economic pie, but the slices haven't grown at all,'' said Bernstein, noting that the median income in 2000 was actually $324 higher than the figure in 2007, at $50,557.

And, the numbers do not take into account consequences of the economic downturn that began late last year.

Although the West had the nation's highest median income, the picture is bleaker for Utah because unlike their national counterparts, the state's comparatively young population hasn't reached its full earnings potential.

"That's why Utah's median household income is typically lower than other states'," said Mark Knold, senior economist with the Utah Department of Workforce Services. "We have a population, dominated by 35-year-olds versus the rest of the U.S. households that are dominated by 45- to 55-year olds with more tenure and experience."

Worse, Utah's two-year median household income declined by $2,175 when compared with averages in 2004-2005 and 2006-2007, falling to $54,853. (That compares with in an increase of $1,812, to $56,311, in California, the driving force in the West.)

"That's surprising," said Knold of the Utah numbers, "particularly since our wages increased in 2006 and last year by 5.4 percent for each year."

In addition, results were not uniform across groups. U.S. household income rose for whites and African-Americans but remained unchanged for Asians and Latinos.

For their part, women are closing the income gap, if slowly. The female-to-male earnings ratio last year was 78 percent - higher than the previous high of 76 percent recorded in 2001.

"Part of the reason that women are gaining ground is that more women are working full time while the proportion of men working full time has gone down," said demographer Pam Perlich with the University of Utah Bureau of Business & Economic Research. "And wage increases were smaller for full-time male workers than for women."

The median earnings of men rose from $43,460 in 2006 to $45,113 last year, while those of women rose from $33,437 to $35,102. But earlier, both men and women experienced three years of annual declines in real earnings.

dawn@sltrib.com

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* THE ASSOCIATED PRESS contributed to this report.

The West sits atop the heap

2007 median earnings tops in the West:

* Western households had the highest income at $54,138; Northeast, $52,274; Midwest, $50,277; and the South, $46,186.

* U.S. household income rose in 2006 from $49,568 to $50,233 last year.