Useful Stats: Change in Per Capita Income by State, 2000-2005

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently published its 2005 estimates of state personal income. According to the release, growth in U.S. per capita income slowed in 2005 increasing 4.6 percent in 2005, down from 5 percent growth in 2004. Regionally, the most significant increases in per capita income accompanied faster population growth, occurring in the Southwest states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas and the Rocky Mountain states of Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. Florida, Nevada and Virginia round out the top 10 states for percent change in per capita income.

Using BEA data, SSTI has compiled a 50-state table presenting percent change in per capita income from 2000-2005 and ranking the states using constant 2000 dollars. The District of Columbia ranked the highest with a 19.88 percent change over the five-year period, followed by Wyoming (13.98 percent), Montana (13.04 percent), North Dakota (10.29 percent) and New Mexico (10.16 percent). The BEA reports Wyoming’s strong performance is accredited to the mining industry, which contributed more than two percentage points to earnings growth in 2005.

Conversely, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Washington and Louisiana experienced a decrease in per capita income from 2000-2005 as measured by constant 2000 dollars. Louisiana’s large decrease over the five year period, 5.15 percent, is directly attributed to the 9.1 percent decline last year, due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to the BEA.

The BEA does not provide possible explanations for the poor performance of some states, does provide some analysis by region. The overall weakness of the Great Lakes region reflects the ongoing changes within the durable manufacturing sectors, especially motor vehicles and parts, according to the BEA. While the Great Lakes states struggle, the BEA attributes much of the growth in the Southwest to its durable manufacturing (particularly machinery and computers) and mining sectors.

SSTI’s 2005 table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/041706t.htm

BEA’s State Personal Income 2005 news release is available at: http://www.bea.gov/bea/newsrel/SPINewsRelease.htm

SSTI’s 1999-2004 table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/040405t.htm