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Useful Stats: Five-year Change in Per Capita Income by U.S. Metro Area
According to statistics released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), per capita personal income in the U.S. was $38,632 in 2007, a 22.6 percent increase since 2003. Over this same five-year period, 118 of the country’s 363 metropolitan statistical areas experienced an increase in per capita income greater than the U.S. rate of growth. SSTI has prepared a table for all 363 U.S. metro areas, showing the change in per capita income from 2003 to 2007.
By the numbers, the New Orleans metro area saw the largest increase in per capita income, growing 57.8 percent from $29,274 in 2003 before Hurricane Katrina, to $46,188 in 2007. Rounding out the top 10 were the metro areas centered around:
- Midland, TX
- Naples-Marco Island, FL
- Gulfport-Biloxi, MS
- Sebastian-Vero Beach, FL
- Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA
- Pascagoula, MS
- Odessa, TX
- Jacksonville, NC
- Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, TX
According to the BEA press release announcing the data, federal payments to rebuild residences destroyed or damaged by severe weather in the Gulf Coast region greatly increased personal income in those metro areas. Additionally, gains from the oil and gas extraction industry pushed income growth in many of the fastest-growing metro areas.
Of the 10 metro areas with the smallest increases in per capita income from 2003 to 2007 (ranging from 9.4 percent to 1.8 percent growth), three each were located in Illinois and Michigan, two were in Indiana, and one was in each of Ohio and Wisconsin. It should be noted BEA estimates on per capita income for metro areas are aligned with that year’s definition of each metropolitan statistical area, whose geographic area may change over time, as defined every year by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Personal income is defined as the sum of net earnings by place of residence, rental income, personal dividends, personal interest income, and current transfer receipts. The BEA calculates per capita personal income by dividing the total personal income of a given geographical area by the Census Bureau’s mid-year annual population estimates.
SSTI's table is available at: http://www.ssti.org/Digest/Tables/081308t.htm
The BEA press release is available at: http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/mpi/mpi_newsrelease.htm