Photo: pixabay

Penticton is lagging well behind national and provincial median household incomes, new census data released Wednesday reveals.

Penticton households have a median income of $54,219, well below national ($70,336) and provincial ($69,995) figures.

Making matters worse, incomes are stagnant — growing just 5.2 per cent since 2005 — far short of the national (10.8 per cent) and provincial (12.2 per cent) growth rates.

When compared to the larger centres in the Okanagan Valley, Penticton also sits near the very bottom, beating only Osoyoos at $52,352.

The highest median incomes in the Okanagan are in West Kelowna and Lake Country, both around $83,000 per year. Kelowna ($68,627) and Vernon ($59,353) also both fell behind provincial and national numbers. However, Kelowna saw incomes rise around 15 per cent since 2005.

For comparison, a list of Okanagan communities' median incomes is below:

• Osoyoos $52,352
• Penticton $54,319
• Oliver $54,656
• Vernon $59,353
• Summerland $66,461
• Kelowna $68,627
• Lake Country $83,243
• West Kelowna $83,943
• Greater Vancouver $72,662