"If we go back not too far, 1970, the average person in North Carolina had an annual income about 80 percent of the national average. Today it's over 90 percent," says Dr. Walden, an economist with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service.

"And some people say that when you account for the lower cost of living here in North Carolina than the nation, we are probably at the national average," he adds.

"So our incomes in North Carolina on average have certainly converged toward national incomes, and this is based on both people getting wage increases as well as the occupational mix of our state changing. We have many more high paying jobs today than we did 30 years ago.

"This is really a central idea in regional economics," Walden concludes, "that over time high- and low-income areas will get closer together."