Useful Stats: Per Capita Income by U.S. Metro Area 2004-2008

Over the five-year period from 2004 to 2008, 124 of the 366 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas experienced a change in per capita income at a greater rate than the U.S. as a whole, according to statistics released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). In 2008, per capita personal income in the U.S. was $39,582, a 19.4 percent increase since 2004. To further examine all 366 metro areas in the U.S., SSTI has prepared a table showing the amount and change in per capita income for each MSA from 2004 to 2008.

The metro area situated around Midland, Texas experienced the largest increase in per capita income, growing by 51.1 percent over the five years. The Midland MSA was also in the top ten of MSAs in its projected 2008 per capita income.

Rounding out the top 10 in terms of five-year percent increases were the metro areas centered around:

• Houma, LA
• Odessa, TX
• Casper, WY
• Jacksonville, NC
• New Orleans, LA
• Lake Charles, LA
• Manhattan, KS
• Lafayette, LA
• Farmington, NM

In the press release announcing the data, the BEA states income tax rebates included in the 2008 Economic Stimulus Act had a measurable impact on the 2008 per capita income projections, but the size of the impact varied inversely with the per capita incomes of the MSAs. The reason: the stimulus act tax rebates were targeted towards lower-income families. For example, the rebate contributed 1.7 percentage points to the per capita personal income growth over the past year of the McAllen TX MSA (the metro with the lowest per capita income in the U.S.), compared to a 0.1 percentage point contribution to the Bridgeport, CT MSA (the metro with the largest per capita income).

Of the 10 metro areas with the smallest increases in per capita income from 2004 to 2008 (ranging from 5.0 percent to 9.3 percent growth over five years), three were located in Michigan, two were in Indiana, and one each was in California, Georgia, Oregon, Ohio, and South Carolina. It should be noted that 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/081209t.htm.

The BEA press release is available at: http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/mpi/mpi_newsrelease.htm