Policy Analysis | March 2013

State Personal Income Trends

Sujit CanagaRetna

The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis recently released the state personal income levels for 2012. Based on this data, average state personal income growth slowed to 3.5 percent in 2012 from 5.2 percent in 2011. While North Dakota demonstrated the largest increase in state personal income growth (12.4 percent) among all the states, South Dakota's -0.2 percent was the most anemic. In terms of inflation, as measured by the national price index for personal consumption expenditures, the rate fell to 1.8 percent in 2012 from 2.4 percent in 2011.

North Dakota's rapid personal income growth in 2012 was most impressive since it was the fifth time in the last six years that the state's ranking was the fastest in the nation. In fact, since 2006, personal income in the state has expanded at a compound annual rate of 9.2 percent, a substantial improvement compared to the 2.9 percent growth rate of all other states. In contrast, a number of states, including South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa, all experienced below average total personal income growth in 2012 due to the deleterious effects of last year's drought on farm income. It should be noted that nonfarm personal income growth in each of these states was above average.

A review of the 15 states that belong to the Southern Office of The Council of State Governments, the Southern Legislative Conference (SLC), reveals several interesting trends. For instance, three of the 15 SLC states ranked in the top 10 in the nation in terms of personal income growth between 2011 and 2012. Specifically, Texas (4.8 percent) ranked 2nd, Oklahoma (4.2 percent) ranked 7th and Tennessee (3.9 percent) ranked 10th.

In terms of per capita personal income, while the United States figure was $42,693 in 2012, the SLC average was $37,678. Only Virginia ($47,082) had sufficient per capita income to rank in the top 10 among the nation's 50 states, coming in eighth.

Personal Income, Population, and Per Capita Personal Income, by State and Region, 2011-2012

Region/State Personal income [Millions of dollars] Population [Thousands of persons] 1 Per capita personal income [Dollars]
2011 2012 p Percent change Rank of percent change 2012 p Rank in U.S Percent of U.S. average
2011-12 2011-12 2012 2012 p 2012 p
United States 12,949,905 13,401,869 3.5 -- 313,914 42,693 -- 100
New England
Connecticut 207,329 211,500 2.0 49 3,590 58,908 1 138
Maine 50,869 52,478 3.2 32 1,329 39,481 28 92
Massachusetts 352,243 363,459 3.2 30 6,646 54,687 2 128
New Hampshire 60,481 62,150 2.8 39 1,321 47,058 9 110
Rhode Island 46,125 47,253 2.4 44 1,050 44,990 14 105
Vermont 26,042 26,915 3.4 24 626 42,994 21 101
Mideast
Delaware 37,600 38,463 2.3 48 917 41,940 23 98
District of Columbia 45,598 47,241 3.6 -- 632 74,710 -- 175
Maryland 295,235 305,827 3.6 19 5,885 51,971 5 122
New Jersey 462,494 475,393 2.8 38 8,865 53,628 3 126
New York 995,185 1,019,514 2.4 45 19,570 52,095 4 122
Pennsylvania 538,909 556,692 3.3 27 12,764 43,616 19 102
Great Lakes
Illinois 562,663 577,008 2.5 42 12,875 44,815 16 105
Indiana 232,586 241,243 3.7 16 6,537 36,902 39 86
Michigan 358,152 370,599 3.5 22 9,883 37,497 35 88
Ohio 436,818 453,556 3.8 14 11,544 39,289 30 92
Wisconsin 226,042 232,129 2.7 41 5,726 40,537 26 95
Plains
Iowa 126,032 129,503 2.8 40 3,074 42,126 22 99
Kansas 117,386 120,732 2.9 36 2,886 41,835 24 98
Minnesota 238,166 248,663 4.4 6 5,379 46,227 11 108
Missouri 228,218 235,154 3.0 34 6,022 39,049 31 91
Nebraska 78,220 80,052 2.3 47 1,856 43,143 20 101
North Dakota 32,306 36,306 12.4 1 700 51,893 6 122
South Dakota 36,439 36,384 -0.2 50 833 43,659 18 102
Southeast
Alabama 167,517 171,783 2.5 43 4,822 35,625 42 83
Arkansas 99,127 102,403 3.3 26 2,949 34,723 45 81
Florida 755,358 779,339 3.2 31 19,318 40,344 27 94
Georgia 353,142 365,740 3.6 21 9,920 36,869 40 86
Kentucky 148,510 153,495 3.4 23 4,380 35,041 44 82
Louisiana 176,356 181,373 2.8 37 4,602 39,413 29 92
Mississippi 95,313 98,722 3.6 20 2,985 33,073 50 77
North Carolina 347,905 361,301 3.9 13 9,752 37,049 38 87
South Carolina 156,231 161,864 3.6 18 4,724 34,266 48 80
Tennessee 234,154 243,256 3.9 10 6,456 37,678 34 88
Virginia 373,312 385,404 3.2 28 8,186 47,082 8 110
West Virginia 61,976 63,968 3.2 29 1,855 34,477 47 81
Southwest
Arizona 227,287 235,781 3.7 15 6,553 35,979 41 84
New Mexico 71,073 73,159 2.9 35 2,086 35,079 43 82
Oklahoma 142,862 148,799 4.2 7 3,815 39,006 32 91
Texas 1,030,750 1,080,710 4.8 2 26,059 41,471 25 97
Rocky Mountain
Colorado 225,410 234,142 3.9 11 5,188 45,135 13 106
Idaho 52,116 53,854 3.3 25 1,596 33,749 49 79
Montana 35,952 37,562 4.5 5 1,005 37,370 36 88
Utah 94,401 98,797 4.7 3 2,855 34,601 46 81
Wyoming 27,214 28,054 3.1 33 576 48,670 7 114
Far West
Alaska 33,003 34,216 3.7 17 731 46,778 10 110
California 1,645,138 1,711,110 4.0 9 38,041 44,980 15 105
Hawaii 59,014 61,295 3.9 12 1,392 44,024 17 103
Nevada 100,665 103,076 2.4 46 2,759 37,361 37 88
Oregon 145,300 151,241 4.1 8 3,899 38,786 33 91
Washington 299,685 313,212 4.5 4 6,897 45,413 12 106
BEA regions
New England 743,088 763,755 2.8 8 14,563 52,446 1 123
Mideast 2,375,021 2,443,130 2.9 7 48,632 50,237 2 118
Great Lakes 1,816,260 1,874,535 3.2 6 46,567 40,255 6 94
Plains 856,767 886,795 3.5 4 20,750 42,738 4 100
Southeast 2,968,900 3,068,647 3.4 5 79,949 38,382 8 90
Southwest 1,471,971 1,538,449 4.5 1 38,513 39,946 7 94
Rocky Mountain 435,093 452,409 4.0 3 11,220 40,321 5 94
Far West 2,282,805 2,374,150 4.0 2 53,720 44,195 3 104

Notes:

1 Census Bureau midyear population estimate. Estimates for 2012 use state population estimates released in December 2012.

p Preliminary

Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and Bureau of the Census