SALEM — A cluster of four rural counties on Oregon’s northern edge posted the state’s fastest gains in personal income last year, according to new federal data, handily outpacing larger communities in Oregon’s urban centers.

The four counties — Gilliam, Sherman, Morrow and Wheeler — benefitted from a surge in prices for grain, dairy and other agricultural products in 2022. Big construction projects helped boost their totals.

The four counties’ windfalls may already be in the rear-view mirror, however. Wheat and dairy prices have returned to earth in 2023 and some of last year’s construction work is over. The good news is there are signs that other parts of Oregon may be picking up the slack.

Tiny Gilliam County had Oregon’s fastest personal income growth last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, at 9.4%. The federal data pegs Gilliam County’s population at just over 2,000 and its per capita personal income at $69,000 annually, about $7,000 above the statewide figure.

The 1,200-acre Pachwáywit Fields solar farm explains construction industry growth in Gilliam County, according to Dallas Fridley, regional economist with the Oregon Employment Department. The county also benefitted from a 20% growth in farm earnings, Fridley said.

Wheat prices climbed by as much as 60% in parts of 2022, and grains are a key crop in many counties east of the Cascades. That includes Sherman County, population 2,000, which had personal income growth of 8.1% last year.

Morrow County benefitted from a boost in crop prices, food processing activity and possibly from data center construction, according to Fridley. The reasons for income growth in Wheeler County aren’t as clear, according to Fridley, and appear to be the result of a combination of many factors.

That’s typical in small counties. And small counties can have big swings in their per capita incomes from year to year because even a small financial impact can make a big economic splash.

Statewide numbers tell a more consistent story. Oregon’s personal income grew by 1.1% last year overall, according to the federal data, below the federal growth rate of 1.6%.

Oregon’s biggest losses were in Douglas and Lake counties, where personal incomes declined by a little less than 2%. Multnomah County, Oregon’s largest, was roughly flat.

Early returns are more promising for Oregon this year. Statewide personal income grew at an annual rate of 5.5% last spring, according to the most recent federal numbers, the biggest gains of any state west of the Mississippi.

Oregon was slower than other states to spring back from the pandemic, but growth has been stronger recently.

Oregonians have benefited from rising wages and ongoing investment in the state’s semiconductor industry and other major sectors. State economists reported earlier this month that Oregon has posted some of the nation’s biggest gains in productivity since 2019.