Swing-State Economics: Arizona
Unemployment rate (September): 5.5 percent (U.S.: 5 percent)
Median income (2015): $51,492 (U.S.: $55,775)
Poverty rate (2015): 17.4 percent (U.S.: 14.7 percent)
College share (2015): 27.7 percent (U.S.: 30.6 percent)
The bursting of the housing bubble hit Arizona hard — Phoenix, in particular, experienced a huge run-up in home prices during the boom, and the crash left many homeowners underwater and unable to pay their mortgages. But unlike many states that suffered in the bust, Arizona has seen its housing market rebound strongly during the recovery. Still, the state’s unemployment rate remains above the national mark, and employment has barely returned to its prerecession level.