Useful Stats

Though U.S. venture capital (VC) investment grew in 2010 after a disastrous 2009, overall venture activity remains well below 2006-2008 levels. Last year, U.S. venture firms invested $21.8 billion in American companies, 27 percent less than in 2007 (the last peak year before the current economic downturn). Most U.S. states experienced a similar pattern over the past five years, peaking in 2007, hitting a decade low in 2009, and recovering a bit last year.

California continues to have the highest level of venture capital activity by far, followed by Massachusetts, New York, Texas and Washington. Both Illinois and North Carolina had a strong 2010 and both joined the top ten states for total VC dollars invested for the first time since 2003. Though Georgia ranked 13th in VC investment dollars, the state ranked in the top 10 for total number of deals.

After declining last year for the first time since 1949, U.S. personal income rose three percent in 2010 to more than $12.5 trillion, according to a release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). U.S. per capital personal income, which had also dipped in 2009, rose 14.6 percent to $40,584 last year. Both U.S. total and per capita personal income, however, remained below their peak levels in 2008. The largest percentage increases in personal income came in the Southwest region (Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas) and the Mideast region (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Only ten states posted income levels in 2010 that exceeded the pre-recession level in 2008. That group includes Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. Alaska also surpassed its 2008 level, though the BEA report notes that Alaska experienced only a marginal decline in 2009, unlike most of the rest of the country. New Mexico's personal income grew by 4.2 percent over the previous year, the largest percentage increase in the country.

U.S. real gross domestic domestic product (GDP) and per capita personal income fell in 2009 as the economic crisis spread across the country, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Most states experienced the same declines, particularly in the Great Lakes region. In 2009, real GDP fell in every state, except Alaska, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia. West Virginia was the only state to increase its per capita income (current dollars, unadjusted) in 2009. The 2008 and 2009 crisis ended the period of steady growth in most states since 2001.